The Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MoEST), which is the focal ministry charged with UN climate talks, said that the team was formed to push national agenda at climate change negotiations more strongly. [break]
“The negotiations are getting complex and issues tougher. So, we decided to form a core negotiations team that will regularly take part in the meetings. This will help to develop expertise as well as the permanent team that could track the issues and raise voices more strongly,” said Krishna Gyawali, a MoEST secretary.
The17- member team includes officials from seven different ministries as well as experts from academia, NGOs, INGOs and media. The ministry had called for applications for those interested to be a part of the team and the selection committee formed under the ministry took decision.
The cabinet few months ago had decided to form a committee of permanent nature stating that issues of climate change needs to be strongly presented by the country like Nepal, itself one of the most vulnerable countries. “The frequent change of officials in bureaucracy has hampered the negotiation as the team members get changed frequently. So, we have taken this initiative,” added Gyawali.
The UN Climate convention was adopted in 1992 that came into force in 1994. More than 200 countries participate in UN climate negotiations every year.