Climate finance and green growth: reconsidering climate-related institutions, investments, and priorities in Nepal

Abstract

Nepal, a least-developed, mountainous, and landlocked country is consistently ranked as one of the most vulnerable countries to the climate change. Poor socioeconomic development, rough and highly unstable geography, inadequate institutional capacity to deal with research, development and policy and mostly underdeveloped infrastructures, all have contributed to increasing vulnerability of communities and ecosystems, and have limited their adaptive capacity. Over the past decade, Nepal has made significant progress, particularly in developing and implementing policies and frameworks and establishing institutional mechanisms with the support of donor countries, UN and multilateral agencies. As the global climate politics is getting more complicated, international financing patterns-both climate and development finance-are shifting their ways, forcing the countries like Nepal to diversify the funding base for climate change actions and integrate them within national development plans and strategies. Using the data and information currently available, we analyze the existing financing situations, discuss the future scenarios and suggest policy recommendations to develop a set of long-term adaptation and impact mitigation strategies in specific and environmental change at large. When short-term adaptation strategies funded from existing financial arrangements and other related bilateral and multilateral sources particularly European countries, seem to be encouraging, we stress the need of "public-private partnership-driven full-fledged green economy" focusing on renewable energy and transport, agriculture and forestry, water and water-induced disasters, as well as tourism and hospitality.

From needs to actions: prospects for planned adaptations in high mountain communities

“…Since the early 2000s, Nepal has received~$37 million (USD) in adaptation-specific funding from UNFCCC funding entities (Mahat et al 2019). Such funds have supported numerous adaptation projects (in addition to the adaptation planning processes cited above), including inter alia a GLOF risk reduction programme supported by the Least Developed Countries Fund in Solukhumbu and a food security initiative in mountainous Karnali districts supported by the Adaptation Fund.…”

“…Such funds have supported numerous adaptation projects (in addition to the adaptation planning processes cited above), including inter alia a GLOF risk reduction programme supported by the Least Developed Countries Fund in Solukhumbu and a food security initiative in mountainous Karnali districts supported by the Adaptation Fund. However, both Dixit et al (2016) and Mahat et al (2019) note that to date multi-and bi-lateral funding for adaptation projects has been significantly greater than contributions from funding streams organized through the UNFCCC. Such support amounts to~$168 million (USD) since the early 2000s, with major contributors including the UK Department for International Development, US Agency for International Development, Asian Development Bank, and World Bank (Mahat et al 2019).…”

“…However, both Dixit et al (2016) and Mahat et al (2019) note that to date multi-and bi-lateral funding for adaptation projects has been significantly greater than contributions from funding streams organized through the UNFCCC. Such support amounts to~$168 million (USD) since the early 2000s, with major contributors including the UK Department for International Development, US Agency for International Development, Asian Development Bank, and World Bank (Mahat et al 2019). However, multi-and bi-lateral funding contributions fall well short of the estimated $2.4 billion (USD) needed to secure climate resilience in agriculture, hydroelectricity, and water-induced disasters in Nepal by 2030 (MoSTE 2014).…”

Rethinking the Reasons of Greenhouse Gases Emission in Asean Countries: Finding Reasons in Urbanization, Industrialization and Population Growth

“…Now urbanization is seen at a quicker rate and under the usual scenario of business, there will also be dramatic increment in greenhouse gas emission. In accordance with Mahat et al (2019) cities mainly contribute in GHG. Half of the population of world resides in cities, a share that will get incremented to around 70% in year 2050.…”

The Impact of Green Finance on Inclusive Economic Growth<br/>—Empirical Analysis Based on Spatial Panel

“…From the perspective of foreign scholars, in the early stage, many foreign scholars proposed similar concepts such as "green finance" and studied this phenomenon in depth. Tek Jung Maha (2019) argued that poor areas such as social and economic development, the imperfect infrastructure constrains region between the economic development, and also think for some development capacity lack region should intensify policy attention to the environment, in particular to develop some green finance project, in order to pursue the high quality of economic growth. The panel data from 1971-2013 were used to discuss the impact of economic growth, people's wealth gap and per capita energy consumption on environmental carbon emissions, and the study believed that green finance could promote inclusive economic growth (Hemachandra et al, 2019).…”