Kathmandu, October 1
Kathmandu Climate Week is all set to begin from Friday. The three day event will bring together policymakers, parliamentarians, politicians, climate practitioners, communities, activists, young people, researchers, civil society, businesses, financial institutions, media and development partners.
Foreign Affairs Minister Shishir Khanal will inaugurate the program. Organized under the theme “Climate Justice for Building Climate Resilience, from Local Action to Global Climate Diplomacy,” the event aims to connect experiences and solutions from communities across Nepal with national policy and international climate diplomacy.
The program will open on Friday, October 2, with a national opening and remembrance for those who lost their lives in recent climate disasters, followed by high-level discussions on Nepal’s climate priorities from the UN General Assembly to COP31. The opening day will also include a dialogue with political party leaders on climate justice priorities, an intergenerational roundtable, sessions with sustainability entrepreneurs, and a panel on climate litigation in Nepal.
On Saturday, October 3, seventeen parallel sessions will be held across five thematic areas: climate justice, loss and damage, sustainability and climate action, technology in climate change, and the private sector’s role in climate justice. Topics will include youth involvement in climate justice, Indigenous and marginalized communities, climate finance, organic agriculture, the circular economy, data and artificial intelligence, climate-resilient infrastructure, and private-sector climate finance.
On Sunday, October 4, the program will focus on frontline voices, with a youth-led session on the Rasuwa-Bhotekoshi flood, a parliamentary dialogue on climate justice, a closing plenary with community representatives from affected areas, and hands-on training in hydroponic farming.
The week will conclude on Monday, October 5, with a public film screening of stories from the event.
Organizers said the program is intended to connect government, local and Indigenous communities, financial institutions, researchers, technologists, media, youth and civil society groups with diplomatic and development partners, and to lay the groundwork for an annual climate dialogue platform in Kathmandu focused on South Asia and mountain issues.
