KATHMANDU: Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal has stated that mountain resilience must be placed at the center of global climate action, noting that the impacts of the growing climate crisis in the Himalayan region are not confined to mountainous areas alone, but extend to the global economy, ecosystems, and human life.
Addressing a session titled “Advancing the Mountain Agenda: Glaciers, the Cryosphere, and Resilience under Temperature Overshoot, Shared Responsibility, and Sustainable Financing” held today on the sidelines of the 31st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP31), he remarked that melting glaciers, a shrinking cryosphere, and increasing disaster risks in mountainous regions have posed serious challenges to global water and food security.
“When the mountains are in crisis, all of humanity is in crisis,” he said. “Our glaciers and Himalayan peaks, formed over thousands of years, are changing rapidly within a single human lifetime. Its impact is not limited to the mountains, but reaches all the way to the oceans through river systems, economies, and ecosystems.”
Pointing out that mountains cover about 27 percent of the Earth’s total land area and serve as the world’s primary sources of freshwater, he emphasized the vital contribution of the Himalayan region to agriculture, clean energy, biodiversity, and water security.
