‘Climate change policies must include indigenous communities’

Kathmandu Post, Oct 15,

Experts from various indigenous communities have said that despite them being the first to face the direct impact of climate change due to their dependence on nature, they have been excluded while devising plans and policies regarding the environment by the government.

Kirant Kamal Sampang, coordinator of International Indigenous Peoples Forum for Climate Change in Nepal, “The government has denied effective participation of indigenous people in formulating the National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) and in the drafting of policies related to environment, forests and land territories.”

Sampang was speaking at an orientation programme on Indigenous Peoples’ rights on climate change in the Capital in Tuesday.

Environment experts have considered that indigenous peoples play a great role in combating climate change and their involvement in planning and implementation of actions is recognized internationally. But, the government and concerned authorities working in the sectors in Nepal have excluded them from policy making.

Sampang had also said that the government has not yet recognized the ownership of indigenous communities upon natural resources; likewise, the government had also denied the share of the benefit from the mechanism on carbon trading which it had earlier committed to share in international forums.

“The government requires to have prior consent from indigenous communities in relation to environment and natural resources and the communities must be given the right to say ‘no’ to any program that has adverse effects on them,” said Helen Tugendhat, an international expert on climate change and indigenous peoples.

Prakash Lamsal, an official at the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation, claimed that the government has recently been making an attempt at devising inclusive plans and involving indigenous representatives.