Sagarmatha Sambaad: A Good Beginning with Many Ifs and Buts

Kosmos Biswokarma, communication specialist and former president of the Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists:

From the communication point of view, I feel, there’s an evident lack of coordination in this conclave. This kind of undertaking requires media campaigns and strategies, which were not there.

The Sagarmatha Sambaad Secretariat is under the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Forests and Environment is handling the technical aspects while an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is handling media communications. In this scheme of things, environmental journalists and communications experts are barely visible. The level of research that should have gone into such an undertaking is also not there.

A global climate initiative on our part, the conclave should have been able to rally the whole country behind this common cause. It has not been able to do so.  

Though on the cards for 3-4 years, Sagarmatha Sambaad had failed to materialize due to the Covid-19 pandemic and some other factors. It is happening, finally and the onus is on us all to make it a success.      

Madhukar Upadhyay, watershed specialist:

The government is holding Sagarmatha Sambaad, Nepal’s first global dialogue to draw the attention of the world to the disproportionate effects of climate change that the country has been experiencing despite a nominal carbon footprint.

The much-awaited global climate dialogue, delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, is a good beginning.

Nonetheless, the government could have done it better. It should have initiated discussions at local, provincial and central levels to set the agendas for such an important event by adopting a bottom-up approach.

This way, it could have rallied the entire nation for a great cause by giving voice to the concerns of the most affected communities. That could have been an appropriate way to spend the taxpayers’ hard-earned monies.

What will be the measure of the dialogue’s success? Who will be answerable to the taxpayers if they raise concerns about the efficacy of the event?

My best wishes for the success of the event, with a fervent hope that it does not turn out to be a mere talk shop.

Nima Nuru Sherpa, president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association:

Sagarmatha Sambaad (May 16-18) will see, in particular, experts on global warming attending along with some other local stakeholders working on the environment front. For the inaugural ceremony of the Sambaad, the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) has also received an invite from the government. 
This is a good initiative and we expect the outcomes to be as good.

The government has not held much consultations regarding issues related to the mountains, including mountaineering, in the lead-up to the conclave.

Climate change and global warming have taken a huge toll on the Himalayas and we expect the government to talk about the impact emanating from beyond our national borders, to talk about the losses we have incurred and financial compensation. 

At the same time, we are ready to lessen the losses resulting from our side. For lessening the losses, we need more trained human resources.      

Sagar Pandey, president of the Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal:


Though we are also a stakeholder, the government did not hold consultations with us in the run-up to the Sagarmatha Sambaad. Nonetheless, it is a commendable effort on the part of the state to raise Nepal’s climate concerns before the world. 

How effective the conclave will be is unclear, but its objectives are good.

Developed nations are mainly to blame for climate change, we have a very nominal role in it. On the contrary, we have conserved forests and have a minuscule carbon footprint, and we need to make the world realize and value this contribution of ours.

Accelerated snow melting on the Himalayas, glacial melting, erratic rain patterns, biodiversity loss….. These are some of the effects of climate change. If glaciers vanish, biodiversity losses continue and if there is no snow on the Himalayas, not only the tourism sector but the entire human civilization will be in peril.

Even if our generation somehow manages to cope with these challenges, successive generations will experience massive impacts of climate change and global warming. 

Against this backdrop, all stakeholders should draw the attention of the world to these issues. We have been paying the price of others’ misdeeds and we need to raise our voices for a common cause. Nepal should use forums like these to make powerful countries more accountable vis-a-vis climate change and global warming.