by Kanchan Shrestha, Photograhs by Pragyajan Rai and Sumana Serchan

 

On March 29, Ambassador Gyan Chandra Acharya, Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations and Chair of the Global Coordination Bureau of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) visited the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, along with his wife, Ms. Sunita Archarya. The event was sponsored by Prof. Roy Lee’s Environment Diplomacy Practicum class where students intern at UN Missions in New York. With this being only the second speaking program organized by NAYA this year, it was both an honor to have the Honorable Ambassador as our guest, and also reflected on the possibilities for NAYA in the coming days.

Ambassador Acharya talked about the challenges and opportunities for Least Developed Countries at the upcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20. The conference is expected to be one of the biggest in history on sustainable development, and focuses on the three pillars of sustainability – economy, society and environment. Countries across the world have been congregating in New York to discuss the draft text that will capture the “Future We Want” and Ambassador Acharya has been chairing the negotiating block of the LDCs comprised of 48 countries. He stated that the Rio+20 negotiations cannot be a process of reaching a common denominator of competing interests, but rather a process that is participatory that has resulted in the evolution of a 20-pages draft text to 200 pages. The process also should not only be about including everyone’s interest but also about how to achieve the goals.

He highlighted the major issues for the developing countries. Sustainable development presents a unique opportunity for these countries to leap frog into a green economy using clean and creative technology compared to carbon intensive economies of the developed world. However, to accomplish this roadmapping a system that facilitates technology transfer, capacity building and financing has to be created. Reinforcing policies and institutions will also be just as important. By resolving these key issues, sustainable development is no longer a dream of the distant future. Ambassador’s positive words continued as he discussed the need for global sustainability report that encompasses not just the environment but the economic and social aspects combining research and policies. He emphasized the need for global leadership to take on such a comprehensive assessment.

He also shared the need for partnerships among regions and across the world not just based on their economic development but key overlapping issues where countries can learn from each other. Nepal along with other countries has been playing a key role in developing Mountain Partnership of 50 countries (www.mountainpartnership.org). The water and climate nexus in these countries are much stronger because of the fragile ecosystem, vast water storage capacities and the strong dependencies of head water and downstream communities on the mountain waters. These mountain-water dependent communities makes one-third of the world population and share similar hurdles in understanding and managing these ecosystems in the face of changing climate and growing pressures on the ecosystem.

After the talk, the Ambassador and Ms. Acharya met with a group of students including most of the NAYA members and Mark Turin and Sara Shneiderman in an informal setting. The Ambassador also met Dean Crane and Prof. Gordon Geballe. Discussions mostly revolved around Nepal’s development. He encouraged the students to excel in their fields and ultimately contribute to Nepal. He suggested that the brain drain of Nepalis should transition to brain circulation, which should not necessarily include people resettling in Nepal but rather a free exchange of ideas and the growth of intellect that would be beneficial to Nepal as well as the rest of the world. He also expressed interest in networking with Nepali university student organizations.

Having just organized two film screenings and a cultural event over the month weeks, the commitment and energy of NAYA members was encouraging. And it was certainly not a small feat to be able to bring Ambassador Acharya – both in the capacity of the Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations and Chair of the Global Coordination Bureau of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) – in the crucial lead up to the RIO +20. I can be confident that we will go on to grow in the semesters to come.