Nepal acts to track climate adaptation and development

Nepal is developing systems to track its efforts to adapt to climate change whilst measuring progress towards development goals

News, 02 August 2013

The plans were launched in Kathmandu on 1 August at a first government coordination meeting chaired by Prakash Mathema, Chief of the Climate Change Management Division at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment.

The aim of the new systems is to ensure the country continues to develop as it experiences the effects of climate change, and to avoid a situation in which adaptation proceeds but development falters.

The systems and tools for tracking adaptation and measuring development will also help to ensure that the government spends its and its development partner’s money effectively.

"This offers the opportunity for the Government of Nepal to have a unique monitoring tool that tracks adaptation finance and changes in communities," said Dr Dinesh C Devkota policy advisor at IDS Nepal. "This could be very useful for the country at both the national and the local level."

"Nepal is among the countries that are taking the lead in adapting to climate change, despite the challenges that a lack of finance and technical capacity present," says Dr Susannah Fisher of IIED, which has provided advice to the governments of Nepal and four other countries that will develop similar frameworks and tools. "By developing these new systems, Nepal will ensure that its efforts to develop and adapt to climate change can work in concert, rather than against each other."