View from the inside: Mountains and climate change agenda in UN climate talks

Ahead of the highly anticipated COP29 climate conference in Azerbaijan, we caught up with Apar Paudyal, a senior climate consultant in our Nepal team, to get his insider perspectives on the critical climate challenges facing mountain regions.

What do you see as the most overlooked policy challenges around climate change?

When most people think about climate change, they immediately picture rising sea levels, deforestation or greenhouse gas emission. But in my work, I have seen how mountain ecosystems, which are absolutely crucial for our planet's health, often get overlooked in international climate discussions.

Mountains are essentially the world's water towers – providing water for millions downstream. They're also incredible carbon sinks and help regulate global temperatures. What really concerns me is that these ecosystems are amongst the most vulnerable to climate change, as highlighted by the IPCC. We're seeing temperatures rise more quickly in mountain regions than in many other areas, which has far-reaching consequences for local communities and everyone who depends on these ecosystems – and that impacts millions of lives and their livelihoods.

How can we best address these challenges?

From my experience, collective action and commitment are needed from mountain countries' governments and organisations.  I have learnt that it really comes down to three key things. Firstly, we need better data generation and sharing – there are still systematic observations and knowledge gaps about what is happening in mountain regions. For example, Nepal does not have meteorological stations above 3000 m asl.  Secondly, we need to adopt effective adaptation, green growth strategies and nature-based solutions that work for specific mountain contexts, including indigenous knowledge that is often overlooked but incredibly valuable. And thirdly – and this is something I'm particularly passionate about – we need stronger international cooperation for climate action focusing on mountain regions.

I have been working closely with the Government of Nepal on this, trying to bring mountain issues to the forefront of international climate discussions. Just recently, in May 2024, Nepal hosted international expert dialogues on mountains, people and climate to prepare and prioritise mountain-based action to feed systematically into the first UNFCCC-led expert dialogues on mountains and climate change in the Bonn session a month later. We had a breakthrough in stressing a unified global voice on the mountains. 

It was inspiring to see mountain countries coming together and acknowledging that these challenges require special attention.

What achievement in this area are you most proud of?

I am particularly proud of the work we have done with Nepal's Ministry of Forests and Environment. Working with the Climate Ambitions Support Alliance (CASA), we have helped the Government take a leadership role in international climate discussions around mountain issues. It's been really rewarding to see Nepal step up and build global consensus on this topic.  

The Government of Nepal even recognised our team's contribution with a letter of appreciation, which was a wonderful acknowledgement of everyone's hard work.  

We are supporting continuing dialogues on the mountain at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Government of Nepal is hosting a high-level event chaired by the President of Nepal on Nov 13, 2024, entitled “Mountains in Peril: Addressing loss and damage in the Himalayas” by inviting member states and UNFCCC parties to the event.  Moreover, Bhutan, Kyrgyzstan and other countries are advocating for the urgency of climate action in the mountains and beyond during COP29.  

What are your hopes for the future of this work?

My ultimate goal is to see mountains properly integrated into international climate commitments and action plans. We're pushing for three specific things: a high-level political leadership on the mountain agenda rapid decarbonisation by raising ambitions in updated NDCs to protect the mountain ecosystem, and better integration of mountain issues across all climate negotiations such as the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), New Collective Quantified Goals (NCQG), the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), and financial mechanism under the UNFCCC.

But this is not just about mountains – the other end of the terrestrial ecosystem is coastal ecosystems and the billions of people dependent on these ecosystems. We need rapid global decarbonisation to keep warming below 1.5°C to protect these vital systems already facing climate change crisis. There's still work to be done in bringing mountain countries together on this agenda, but I am optimistic about the momentum we are building.

About the author:

Apar Paudyal is a senior consultant in Climate, Energy and Nature Practice. He undertakes research, analysis, engagement, and management of climate change and disaster risk reduction issues. He has been offering technical and programmatic advice to the Government and clients to help build systems, processes, and capacity to manage climate change and climate/green finance, focusing on building resilience, low carbon development, and achieving sustainable development. This includes exploring ways to integrate climate change concerns into development processes at the national, sectoral development, sub-national level, and financial sectors.