Better late than never.
This could be an apt slogan to summarize the feelings around the announcement by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli about the government’s decision to run its first ever Sagarmatha Sambaad (Dialogue). It will be held in Kathmandu from May 16 to 18, just a few months down the line.
Credit should be given to the government for choosing a good theme for the event.
Titled “Climate Change, Mountains and the Future of Humanity”, the Dialogue will focus on the huge challenges represented by climate warming while also offering a window to talk about what will be next for our planet and for the whole of humanity.
Yet it is inevitable wondering if there will be enough time in preparing what is supposed to be the most important event organized by the Federal Government ever.
We must remember that the Singha Durbar was about to launch the event in April 2020 but it was forced to cancel it due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
As I am writing this, the English version of the website of the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and the one of the National Planning Commission, an institution that is formally part of the former, are not offering any information about the Sambaad.
On the site of the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, when you click on the link of news and press releases, users still find a speech dated April 28, 2024 given by then Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
Even more worrisome is the fact that the official website of Sagarmatha Sambaad is outdated as it is still focusing on the year 2020 and there is not even any highlighted information about the fact that the event had been postponed due to “force majeure”. Therefore, it is unavoidable to wonder how PM Oli will be able to pull off a successful event just in a few months from now.
It can be said that hardly any global leaders will be able to make it.
And this is not just a branding issue related to the relevance and appeal that Nepal can have on the key players of the international community, that, as we know, unfortunately, it is not that huge.
It is also a logistic issue considering that the calendars and schedules of these leaders are decided with much larger time advance. Hopefully leaders from the South Asia region plus some dignitaries from the UN Headquarters and representatives of The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP), together with representatives of World Bank, Asia Development Bank and European Investment Bank, will attend.
Perhaps the administrators of the most important UN agencies like UNDP and UNICEF and UN Women together with the Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, most commonly known as UN Climate Change, will participate.
If such a scenario, then, the Dialogue would be already considered a success.
But actually the real accomplishment of the Sagarmatha Sambaad could be determined by how young people of the nations are going to be included in its preparations. It is not only essential that PM Oli himself oversees the organization of the whole event but he should ask the help of younger generations.
In an article written in 2023, when there were rumors that the Federal Government was keen to revive the initiative, I had suggested that, in its preparation, a bottom up, participatory process, starting at local level, could generate precious inputs and feedback from the general population.
Such a visionary exercise would have not only made the Sagarmatha Sambaad truly inclusive and citizen-centered but also give legitimacy to it, creating a pathway for people of all walks of life to stake an ownership over it.
This idea that many might consider farfetched is now totally impossible due the lack of time.
Yet PM Oli should consider opening up some ways for at least the new generations to express their views and priorities considering the flexibility offered by a fairly generic theme that was chosen.
Indeed climate change and with it, biodiversity loss and air pollution that, together, make the so-called “Triple Planetary Crisis” and plastic pollution, are issues that are already affecting the whole society and they will be even more pronounced in the days to come.
There is indeed no aspect of our lives that won’t be spared by them.
It is even a governance issue considering that our political systems will also be impacted.
This means that PM Oli and his personal secretariat should at least open up some venues for people, especially the youths, to express their ideas and participate.
It is true that some informal discussions and consultations are already under way but it is paramount that these are promoted and made accessible to the vaster sections of the society.
Such attempts of involving the citizens could be simply taken as symbolic, tokenistic gestures.
Yet the potential of such engagements is much bigger because they could offer a template for other global events to happen in future under the guidance of young people.
For example, there is still some confusion on the real goals of the Sagarmatha Sambaad.
Asking youths to help come up with some clarity on this regard could not only generate positive vibes but also, in very practical terms, be very useful.
Consultations, to be held in both virtual and real realms, could also help structure the sessions of the discussions, including also generating some ideas for the sub-themes of the event.
To tackle the Triple Planetary Crisis, climate and biodiversity financing, together with renewable energies, all keys to ensure a just transition to a net zero world, will certainly find a major role.
Yet the forum could also discuss new forms of governance needed to effectively tackle these threats. Why also not setting an informal ground for discussing ways to advance the negotiations for an effective plastic pollution treaty that got deadlocked in the first week of December last year in Busan, South Korea? What about the issue of Business and Human Rights that is also central considering the efforts that developing nations like Nepal are undertaking to attract foreign investments and do so sustainably?
And certainly the challenges and opportunities posed by AI should also face some space considering the focus of the event towards the future and the fact that the Federal Government is also working on formulating its own AI policy. Lastly, we might ask ourselves what PM Oli is really expecting from the Sambaad.
The initiative could become a key event to bring in a different perspective, a uniquely overlooked viewpoint from the so-called Global South. That’s why Team Oli should make, despite the time constraints, an effort in trying to invite heads of states and governments from across the developing world, including nations from Latin America, Africa and the South Pacific with whom Nepal does not have historical ties.
As much as PM Oli can be criticized for his high rhetoric, lack of inclusive attitudes and populistic messages he often deploys, he certainly does not lack vision. If he embraces young people and makes them part of the Sagarmatha Sambaad, then, despite the possible low participation of foreign dignitaries, the whole initiative would be seen as a success. And let’s not forget that 2025 should be considered as a test run for the next edition of the event that should happen every year rather than biennially as per now decided. So yes, better late than never but let’s do the Sambaad together with the youths.
Simone Galimberti is the Co-Founder of ENGAGE and the Good Leadership. He writes about development, politics and regional integration.
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