Due to its high altitudes, diverse terrain and weather variability, Nepal’s environment is exceedingly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The country faces flooding, landslides, monsoons, food shortages and a rapidly changing ecosystem. Climate change will have untold consequences on Nepal’s population, especially among rural and marginalized groups, and could cause economic, social and health problems. To mitigate these impacts, coordinated efforts among the government, citizens and the international community are needed.
What Explains Nepal’s Perennial Instability?
Decisive election results in 2017 raised hopes that Nepal would finally see a government finish its term. That looks like a distant dream today.
April 01, 2021
Supporters of Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli participate in a rally in support of the government in Kathmandu, Nepal, Friday, Feb. 5, 2021.
Credit: AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha
Advertisement
In 2017, the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) won nearly two-thirds of seats in Parliament after promising voters “development and prosperity.” Supporters welcomed the new majority government as a chance for progress through stability, after dozens of short-lived coalition governments since the 1990s. Yet today, three and a half years later, the NCP is split in two due to personal – not policy – disputes among top leaders, the future of Prime Minster Khadga Prasad Oli’s government is uncertain, and promises of miraculous economic growth are in tatters.
April 14, 2021 last updated 8:45 ET Supporters of a splinter group in the governing Nepal Communist Party gather to demand the ouster of Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli and the reinstatement of Parliament, in Kathmandu, Nepal, Dec. 29, 2020 (AP photo by Niranjan Shrestha).
Oli’s Power Grab Endangers Nepal’s Fragile Democratic Transition
The aftershocks of Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli’s decision last month to dissolve the lower house of Nepal’s Parliament and call for early elections are still being felt throughout the country. Oli’s controversial move, designed to thwart growing demands for him to leave office, has been widely criticized including within his own Nepal Communist Party, or NCP for contravening Nepal’s 2015 constitution. His insistence on maintaining power marks a potentially dangerous juncture along Oli’s drift toward authoritarianism, and could reverse democratic gains Nepal has made since its 10-year civil war ended