Nepal National Youth Consultation on Response to Rio+20 Zero Draft held

National Consultation, Kathmandu

- By Kabita Gautam and Shreejana Bhattarai

Nepal Youth Task Force on Rio+20 organised a national youth consultation on Rio+20 Zero Draft at the ICIMOD headquarter on Friday, 24 February 2012. The youth consultation was organised as part of the Earth Debate in the Hindu Kush-Himalayas, ICIMOD-British Council initiative to debate on Earth Summit issues in the region.

Regional Workshop held in Biratnagar

Regional Workshop in Biratnagar

-By Kabita Gautam
Nepal Youth Task Force for Rio+20 moved to Biratnagar, the eastern part of Nepal on 30^th January for one-day regional workshop. Facilitated by Mr. Abhiishek Shrestha and Mr. Sagar Aryal, there were 18 youth from different districts of the region who participated in the workshop. Highlighting on the challenges towards the mountains, the workshop was focused on the status of Nepal in Rio+20.

Why Nepal Youth Task Force on Rio+20?

Global context

United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) a.k.a. ‘Rio+20 offers an unique opportunity to redefine environment and sustainability issues in the changed context and for many years to come. Scheduled from 20-22 June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the same city that hosted largest ever environmental conference United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), 3-14 June 1992 a.ka. Rio Summit, this conference is expected to review progresses made in environmental sector in last two decades, identify development gaps, note new challenges emerged over two decades and develop way forward for next few decades. Several governments, UN agencies and civil society groups are contributing in Rio+20 process, making it the most ambitious environmental event in the history. Often ignored or avoided, YOUTH as one of nine Major Groups are preparing to ensure sustainability of the planet by making meaningful contributions for the success of this event.

International Conference on Green Economy and Sustainable Mountain Development

-By Shreejana Bhattarai
The International Conference on Green Economy and Sustainable Mountain Development was held from 5th-7th September at ICIMOD headquarters, Kathmandu. Ms. Shreejana Bhattarai along with other Asia Pacific Youth Forum Alumni got an opportunity to participate in the 2nd day of the conference as youth representatives. There were over 150 participants including prominent scientists, economists, government officials, nongovernmental and UN representatives from all over the world representing all the continents.

Regional Sharing Workshop on Assessment of Challenges and Opportunities in the Asia Pacific Region for Rio +20

-By Shreejana Bhattarai
The workshop held from 23rd to 25th August, 2011 in ICIMOD headquarters, Kathmandu. There were more than 40 participants from 10 countries from Hindu Kush Himalaya and Asia-Pacific region. The participants were from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines and Nepal. The participants were representing primarily governments, I/NGO sector, and multilateral organisations.