Nepal has taken its campaign for mountain climate action to the opening plenary of COP31 in Antalya, asking governments to create a dedicated work programme and reflect mountain-specific risks in adaptation and finance frameworks. Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal’s November 9 appeal has support from Bhutan and Kyrgyzstan, but the proposed programme has not been adopted. The distinction between raising an agenda demand and securing a negotiated outcome is central to what happens next.
A mountain demand at the opening plenary
Nepal used the opening plenary of COP31 in Antalya on Monday, November 9, to ask for a dedicated international work programme on mountains and climate change. Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal told delegates that mountain communities need more than passing recognition in speeches and side events. The country wants their particular risks reflected in the decisions and mechanisms through which the UN climate process sets priorities. The proposal is a negotiating demand, not an adopted programme, and it remains to be seen what governments will agree to put in the conference's final documents.
Nepal's Foreign Ministry published both an account of the first day and Khanal's remarks. His speech said Nepal, Bhutan and Kyrgyzstan had formally requested an agenda item on mountains and climate change. It also acknowledged constructive engagement by other parties while saying progress still fell short. This is a significant distinction: making a joint request and discussing it with presidencies gives the issue diplomatic visibility, but neither step demonstrates that countries have reached consensus on a new permanent strand of work. COP31 continues through November 20, leaving the negotiations open.
Sources: Press Release on Nepal’s Participation in COP31 · Remarks by Hon. Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr Shisir Khanal at the Opening Plenary of CoP-31 in Antalya, Turkiye · Nepal urges climate justice for Himalayas at COP31
Three things Nepal wants written into climate decisions
The minister outlined three priorities for the COP31 presidencies and participating governments. First, he argued that keeping the 1.5°C temperature goal within reach is particularly urgent for mountain regions. Second, he called for a dedicated work programme on mountains and climate change. Third, he wanted mountain-specific indicators incorporated into the Global Goal on Adaptation and the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance. Taken together, those requests seek recognition of the problem, a place for continued deliberation and a way to judge whether policy and funding respond to mountain conditions.
The proposal therefore goes beyond a statement that glaciers are vulnerable. An agenda item can create formal room to discuss a topic; a work programme could give countries a continuing process for examining it; indicators could change which impacts receive attention when adaptation needs are assessed. None of these results is automatic. The design of any programme, the body that would oversee it and the treatment of mountain indicators would require further decisions. The ministry's press release presents the requests as priorities Nepal is seeking, not commitments that COP31 has already made.
Sources: Press Release on Nepal’s Participation in COP31 · Remarks by Hon. Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr Shisir Khanal at the Opening Plenary of CoP-31 in Antalya, Turkiye · Nepal urges climate justice for Himalayas at COP31
Why mountains can be missed in broad climate frameworks
Mountain risks are not confined to high-altitude settlements. Changes in snow, ice, rainfall and slopes can have consequences for the water supply, infrastructure and livelihoods of people living far downstream. Khanal framed this relationship as extending from Sagarmatha, the Nepali name for Everest, to the sea. The phrasing links an upland source of risk with the communities and economies connected to it, but it is a political description of interdependence rather than a measurement of a single disaster's reach.
Global climate agreements generally cover countries with widely different landscapes and development needs. Nepal argues that mountain environments can lose visibility when the same broad metrics are used to assess progress everywhere. It wants the distinctive exposure of remote settlements, fragile slopes and glacier-fed systems to be recognised more explicitly. That argument raises a practical question for negotiators: how to create indicators that capture mountain conditions without making national reporting so fragmented that results become difficult to compare. The speech sets a direction, but does not provide an agreed methodology.
Sources: Remarks by Hon. Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr Shisir Khanal at the Opening Plenary of CoP-31 in Antalya, Turkiye · UN Climate Change Conference - Antalya, November 2026
Disaster experience shapes the appeal
Khanal's address referred to the devastating August disaster in Nepal's mountain region and described the country's recent experience as a reason to accelerate climate action. He spoke of major human, physical and economic losses, asking other governments to turn solidarity after a disaster into durable support for resilience. The ministry also said he raised the Bhotekoshi disaster while opening Nepal's pavilion at the conference. These descriptions are the government's account of the disaster and of its policy priorities; they do not by themselves establish precise attribution of every impact to climate change.
The appeal is also about what happens after emergency attention fades. Mountain infrastructure can be difficult and expensive to rebuild, while remote communities may struggle to reach financial and technical assistance. Nepal wants adaptation support to account for those constraints instead of relying only on generic vulnerability assessments. The first-day release says Khanal called for predictable, accessible climate finance and for recovery that is stronger and more equitable. The speech did not announce a new allocation of money, an approved rebuilding programme or an agreed formula for distributing finance to mountain areas.
Sources: Press Release on Nepal’s Participation in COP31 · Remarks by Hon. Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr Shisir Khanal at the Opening Plenary of CoP-31 in Antalya, Turkiye · UN Climate Change Conference - Antalya, November 2026
Allies, side events and formal negotiations are different
Nepal is not pursuing the issue alone. Its foreign minister said Bhutan and Kyrgyzstan joined the request for a formal agenda item. Nepal's foreign ministry also reported that its delegation participated in a high-level event on mountain resilience and adaptation finance, co-hosted with those countries and technical partners including the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development and Zoï Environment Network. These initiatives can build shared proposals and a common vocabulary among mountain countries; they are not substitutes for a decision taken by the conference's parties.
The ministry reported that Khanal inaugurated a Nepal pavilion and met Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos during the first day. Such exchanges are part of the diplomatic work surrounding a climate summit, offering opportunities to seek backing for contested priorities. Yet the key test will not be how many conversations Nepal holds or how many events spotlight glaciers. It will be whether the formal negotiating record carries forward the proposed work programme or mountain-specific commitments, and in what form. Side-event attendance should not be confused with governments co-sponsoring an adopted COP decision.
Sources: Press Release on Nepal’s Participation in COP31 · Remarks by Hon. Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr Shisir Khanal at the Opening Plenary of CoP-31 in Antalya, Turkiye · Nepal urges climate justice for Himalayas at COP31
What would count as a real outcome at COP31
The UN climate convention's COP31 information page lists provisional and supplementary agenda documents alongside in-session material, making the record of the negotiations available as it develops. These documents matter because they allow readers to distinguish a request, a provisional item, a consultation and a negotiated outcome. An explicit decision on mountain and climate-change work would be stronger evidence of progress than an official statement describing a promising exchange. Conversely, the absence of a dedicated programme at the end of the summit would not mean the problem has disappeared; it would mean this institutional demand has not been met in that form.
Attention now turns to the conference's written decisions and any presidency consultations on matters relating to mountains. Observers can ask whether governments agree to establish a work programme, specify its duration or responsibilities, or include mountain-relevant measures in adaptation and finance discussions. They can also look for clear commitments rather than ambiguous acknowledgements. Nepal has succeeded in bringing its argument to the opening plenary with support from fellow mountain countries. Whether it can turn that visibility into an enduring place in the UN climate process remains the unanswered news of COP31.
Sources: Remarks by Hon. Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr Shisir Khanal at the Opening Plenary of CoP-31 in Antalya, Turkiye · UN Climate Change Conference - Antalya, November 2026
