The Rt. Hon. Alok Sharma, COP26 President Designate, interacted with Nepali youth and engaged in climate activities, at a Climate Café hosted by the British Council at the British Embassy in Kathmandu on 17 February, Wednesday.
The dozen youth gathered at the event informed the MP of climate-related activities they were engaged in, including lobbying the government to include the voice of youth in official documents, recycling waste, inputting climate change in school curricula, converting schools to green schools, combining arts and engineering to create sustainable technological equipment, making reusable sanitary napkins, using art to engage school children in the subject, and researching climate change in the media.
MP Sharma appreciated the role of youth in lobbying the government for change, and also answered questions from the participants. Shreya KC, the coordinator of NYCA (Nepalese Youth for Climate Action), wanted to know how the COP26 could include more voices from the global south.
MP Sharma informed that COP26, to be held in Glasgow, Scotland, from 1 to 12 November 2021, is the most inclusive COP yet. For the first time, the COP has formed groups of women, indigenous peoples, and youth, which meet often with COP organizers and help them shape the path to COP26. Italy is also organizing a COP for youth as a pre-COP event, from 30 September – 2 October 2021. Two young people from every UN nation will attend this summit. MP Sharma encouraged Nepali youth to apply to attend the summit as well.
The Rt. Hon. Alok Sharma, COP26 President Designate, also planted a tree at the function. The tree planting underscores the British Council’s commitment to offset our own carbon footprint from COP26 programming and contribute towards the regional goal of making the British Council’s operations carbon neutral in the next 5 years, again striving towards the net-zero aim set by COP26.