Over the last few months, I had a series of conversations with Shreya KC, one of the most prominent climate justice activists of the country. Internationally she is the Advocacy Coordinator at the Loss and Damage Youth Coalition. She previously led the NDCs working group in YOUNGO—the official children and youth constituency of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and also took a key role in the Mock COP exercise. As a young but yet extremely well experienced and knowledgeable climate activist from Solukhumbu district of Nepal, Shreya is determined to bring the change much required. In this interview, Shreya tells her stories, how her own journey on climate justice activism started and what’s her views on the upcoming climate COP 29 set to start in November in Baku, Azerbaijan from November 11.
How did you get inspired to become an activist?
I had the opportunity back in 2017 to attend a lecture of Rajan Thapa, who is currently working at WWF Nepal, and at the time he was associated with CEN (Clean Energy Nepal) that hosts the Secretariat of the Nepalese Youth for Climate Action (NYCA) explaining environmental challenges. His presentation made me reflect deeply when I got back home. For someone like me who chose Environmental Sciences for Bachelor’s degree in a very casual way, without too much conviction, it was a sort of epiphany. That lecture, so realistic and so gripping at the same time, pushed me to do some research on the topic of climate warming and little did I know it was setting a path to follow upon.
I started trying to understand more on climate change impact in my own village in Solukhumbu and I did realize about the severity of impact in my own community placed in a delicate ecosystem of mountainous region was facing and the disastrous future the scientific data envisioned.
I discovered that the subject of climate warming wasn’t just a momentary interest but slowly it instilled on me a commitment to be the change and bring the change.
At the same time, with my interest and commitment on climate change growing, I also started experiencing a more direct impact of it on my personal life. Indeed, I realized that I was going through climate anxiety as I dived more and learned more about the climate sciences reality.
Then there was a turning point. I had heard about a climate conference in Bhaktapur that was organized by the NYCA. It was at the time when I didn’t use Facebook nor e-mail. I applied but I wasn’t selected. Yet, as I was driven by my strong willingness to attend, I had even agreed to volunteer for the same conference but, still, I could not get a spot. Later, a seat was open for the same conference and I took the chance and I managed to attend. That was the beginning of a new journey for me.
What happened after that? When did you start your formal journey in the field of climate action?
I started working as a volunteer then as a school and college coordinator before I led the NYCA as Network Coordinator for two years, from 2019-2021. Since then, there was no “return”. I could not go back to my normal life.
Can you tell me how you got involved in your first Climate COP?
In 2019, I got a Youth Climate Scholarship from an organization, Plant for Planet, and that helped me to participate in my very first COP 25 that was supposed to be held in Santiago del, Chile, but moved to Madrid, Spain, due to some political instability that was going on at the time in Chile. I inquired with the Ministry of Forests and Environment, and I was lucky that I managed to obtain the observer batch that allowed me to attend some crucial cross-room negotiations.
As I listened to the discussions there, I started realizing how such big meetings were not really fit for the purpose as negotiations were so complicated with a lot of procedural work. I later realized that all the COP processes’ outcomes were not impactful enough. Yet I was learning firsthand how negotiations and discussions at the highest levels were unfolding and this was a precious experience. As I returned from Madrid, I re-read the first Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) of Nepal and realized how there was not a single mention of children and youth. I was very disappointed. Till now they are still actually a pivotal aspect that must be considered in any legally binding document being made which shapes our future. Then, for the next two years, I engaged myself in various movements while prioritizing climate policies and advocacy.
I led youth-led consultation in NYCA, when government was preparing the second NDC of Nepal. This is when I got a very clear overview of how the political leadership can affect activism and in a way the climate action itself. After conducting 17 consultations throughout Nepal, we provided inputs to the second draft of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) later published by the Ministry of Forests and Environment (MOFE). The final version of the document did not reflect everything we asked but it included some points that were important to us like the need of capacity building of youth and their engagement in negotiations. Basically, we succeed in highlighting the imperative that youths must be really involved in decision making. The document also recognized that indigenous and vulnerable people and marginalized voices must be engaged.
Then I started being active in YOUNGO, the officially recognized global youth network that is participating in all the negotiations. Since the beginning, my focus was on NDC negotiations. Then I participated at COP 27 in Egypt as an observer and I followed the discussions on the Global Stocktake which is a crucial aspect to understanding what the global community has been doing in implementing the Paris Agreement. Later on, I also joined the COP28 with the so called “party badge” as part of the official Nepal delegation that allowed me to better follow the discussions representing young people. My focus areas have always been youth engagement and NDCs.
Now, what are your thoughts on the government’s action for the mountain regions such as Solukhumbu, the place where you come?
The government needs to take leadership for conservation of Hindu Kush Himalayan region. I agree that some progress has been made since the initiation of national level initiative like the Sagarmatha Sambad. The mountain agenda has progressed since 2009 when a meeting was organized in Kala Pathar to attract world’s attention to disproportionate impacts of climate change in the Himalayas. Recently, International Dialogue on Peoples, Mountains and Climate Change was organized in 2024 in Nepal. Last year in Dubai at COP28, a roundtable discussion was organized by Nepal with the participation of United Nations General Secretary Antonio Guterres and ministers from other countries moderated by the then Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. In a recent preparatory meeting, we had in June UN Climate Meeting in Bonn formally known as SB60, a very crucial gathering before the COP. An expert dialogue in mountains and climate change was organized, where delegates of Nepal actively participated to share our climate stories and call to action. This means that at the highest levels of the policy levels, the country is being heard and recognized. This is essential but lots remain to be done.
Do you think enough youth voices are being raised for the climate emergency in the context of Nepal? What is hindering youth climate activism?
If we talk about participation, I would say it is good enough in many South Asian countries such as Bangladesh and Nepal. But the problem is this participation is not backed up with proper resources and motivating factors in this domain. A landmark study by the UNICEF’s in 2021 said that 78 percent of young people are worried about climate change and 96 percent of them stated that the youth are keen to address climate change and eager to work if the necessary resources are provided in Nepal. We still lack the basic resources such as funding and other forms of support to continue our work and reach out to bigger groups.
I have friends who have so much passion and have enthusiastically worked on climate action. I have seen and have been accompanied by so many people who care about climate change and want to work for it. But they are burdened with their own responsibilities and everyone can’t continue being engaged on a pro bono basis, without getting paid. This means that they have to leave this advocacy space so that they can get a job, and earn for themselves and their family. Economic independence is something we cannot achieve in the process. This is one of the many things that activism has some costs. I worked as a science and environmental teacher in the beginning days to just fulfill my basic necessities. We mostly have to volunteer which is unpaid and while doing so we often incur in expenses ourselves.
How do you think we can increase youth participation for this essential cause?
We still lack proper contents about environment and climate knowledge in our educational curriculum. Education determines what kind of person one becomes. An example is that an engineer is just taught to build infrastructures without considering other factors in society which will determine what kind of buildings are built. Therefore, I strongly believe that teaching needs to also incorporate essential environmental, sustainability and social aspects. Traditional curricula must be changed and upgraded.
Then if such a change in the curriculums happens, maybe professionals with high technical expertise like engineers and architects will be a bit more mindful of the impacts of their work and the things we see today might be different.
In the textbooks and in the general view expressed through attitudes and behaviors, we quite “auto referentially” consider ourselves as the most superior beings which is not true. This mentality is costing us dearly and it is because of that we are now heading towards self-destruction. If this is the mindset we follow, we are not actually superior in the ecosystem. We cannot solve the problem by using the same understanding that created the problem in the first place. Hence, if we observe and analyze, the same mindset is the core cause of almost all the environmental problems that are now, very much correctly, considered being as “anthropogenic” activities, destructive activities created by us. However, education and knowledge on climate crisis and the world we live in today is paramount to change this status quo but is just the first step in complicated moral leadership journey that we, human beings, have to embark to address climate crisis.
Why do the youth voices matter?
The number of youths in our country comprise more than 40 percent of the total population. Nearly half the population in the world are youths. The world is “young”. And this is “power”. If this group rises together, then policies and acts can change overnight. Therefore, it is really important for us, as youths of today, to become confident and build our skills and expertise as key actors. We can also see in history that most of the revolutions were led by young people and we are doing the same in tackling the climate crisis.
In Nepal, we have started sending people of a certain caliber to policy making. Take Swornim Wagle, a person who has good knowledge of climate issues. We need more people like him. If such development does happen, the country will slowly institutionalize the political ownership on finding ways for Nepal to be an effective and respected climate voice in the Global South. This would considerably help bring the much-needed resources (finance, technology transfer and capacity building) which we direly need. All in all, as youth we are the ones who are going to live the longest, carrying the burden of climate change with its devastating impacts. In simple terms, it implies that we don’t have another choice. It is up to us to face this daunting challenge.
We don’t have much time left, whatever the time left is time to act. We are not saving the planet by continuing the same pattern of devastation. We are doing this peaceful bold battle for ourselves and for the future generations.
Realistically speaking, what can youth organizations do?
I believe that youth organizations can do a lot. They truly have a huge role but it will definitely take time. The unstable political framework in Nepal with frequent change in head of government disrupts the flow of work. Frequently changing political leadership means dealing each time with new ways and style of work and also it takes time for new ministers to build a rapport with the civil servants. Each time a new minister gets sworn in, we start almost from scratch and, as we know, often, these politicians have their own agenda. Youth can be more and more engaged in awareness, education and capacity building to act for climate and slowly, increasing our engagement in policymaking processes.
What’s your view on climate finance?
In Global Stocktake (GST), the most comprehensive and complex review and evaluation of the status of play in climate action since the Paris Agreement that lasted two year from 2021 to 2023, it was acknowledged the huge existing gap in climate finance and the needs are really substantial. Loss and Damage Fund has been officially established at COP28 but now we need to ensure that it is going to be effective and be able to be fit for the purpose and be accessible. The Global North countries responsible for all the devastation want to call this mechanism a Loss and Damage Fund but instead, what, we in the Global South want, beyond the establishment of such fund, is a real Compensation Fund. Unfortunately, it is not happening. After all, we should also not forget, our emissions are negligible now, butin 10-15 years, they will significantly increase as well. So, somehow, we will have a bigger burden and responsibilities here in Nepal. The Global North has shown reluctance on addressing much needed funds. Research has revealed that funds should be in trillions post 2025. As the COP29 approaches, there is now a push to establish a new goal for overall climate finance which is grant based, predictable, and accessible. Technically such goal, in climate negotiations jargon, is called New Collective Quantified Goal or NCQF.
What are your thoughts on dissemination of Loss and Damage (L&D) fund in Nepal as we are moving from LDC to developing countries in 2026?
For a mountainous, landlocked and climate vulnerable country like Nepal, the impacts keep increasing. As we are going to graduate from LDCs by 2026, the provisions and special support we are receiving won’t be the same. We need to prepare for post-2026 on what would be our strategy to access the loss and damage fund and the NCQG fund which is expected to be agreed at COP29.
What are your thoughts about the upcoming COP29 in Azerbaijan? What’s your realistic expectations from the COP 29?
The findings of the GST that were discussed last year at the COP28 revealed that we are far from meeting the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees C by the end of this century. The Loss and Damage Fund was operationalized even though the money committed so far is a drop in the ocean compared to what we need. Scientists have predicted that if we pass the tipping point of 1.5, we will unleash unprecedented climate catastrophes around the world, and the impacts will be much worse than they already are. All this, while communities and countries on the frontline like Nepal with the least adaptive capacity are already facing extreme climate events.
In relation to my own expectations from the upcoming COP29, I hope that the following will happen. First, agreement of a new financial goal from a floor of 100$USD to a substantive high amount based on the evolving needs of the developing countries, which is estimated to be USD 5.8-5.9 trillion for the 2030 period. Second, submission of a new round of NDCs by all countries by early 2025 reflecting the urgency and findings of the GST outcome with economy-wide emission reduction targets to collectively bring us on the path to achieving Paris goals and, third, new and additional pledges to the Loss and Damage Fund from countries that have both the responsibility and capability.
Ahead of COP29, Loss and Damage Youth Coalition (LDYC) conducted a series of consultations to prepare global youth demands from the conference. We will strive to ensure that the governments will take them seriously. It is going to be a long journey.
Swornima Khatri is a climate advocate and Co-Founder of Planet Pulse, a youth-led initiative focused on advocacy of Climate Change, Sustainable Development Goals and One health approach.
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