President Bidya Devi Bhandari has said that Nepal wishes to play a proactive role to protect biodiversity and repel the negative impact of climate change.
Inaugurating the International Conference on Biodiversity, Climate Change Assessment and Impacts on Livelihood, the Head of State said, "The whole world is concerned about the biodiversity loss and looming threats of climate change. Despite resource constraints and globalized nature of climate change impact, Nepal has given priority to address these concerns."

"In a way our country represents the world biodiversity in a miniature as Nepal is composed of Himalayas, mountains, valleys and flatlands ranging from the highest point of the world in the Himalayas in the north to plain areas in the southern Tarai with exquisite flora and fauna. It is in this context that the conference is undoubtedly more important for Nepal," the President observed.

Stating that biodiversity is vital for human survival and livelihood, she said in recent years climate change and global warming have emerged as serious challenges threatening biodiversity and disturbing livelihood of common masses. "While perilous loss of our biodiversity is sure to cause havoc to our fragile ecosystem, predicted impacts are more vulnerable as more people are also likely to face risks of 'vector borne diseases'. Reckless human activities have already resulted in the loss of biodiversity- a base of life support system. The other critical instance in this respect is possibility of food insecurity in many countries including Nepal," President Bhandari stated.

Nepal is a party to both Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the President said, adding that Nepal has chalked out eco-friendly policy to safeguard forest cover, protected areas and habitat conservation. Minister for Population and Environment Jayadev Joshi said developing countries like Nepal have been affected the most by the negative impact of climate change which has caused a serious threat to the livelihood.

Stating that the government has formulated and implemented adaptation policy for combating the negative consequences of climate change, he stressed the need of implementing environment-friendly development policy and conducting public awareness programmes at the local level for biodiversity protection.

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