The first edition of the Kathmandu Climate Week will begin on Friday, bringing together policymakers, parliamentarians, activists, researchers and community representatives for three days of discussions aimed at linking Nepal’s experiences on the ground with national policy and global climate diplomacy.

Held from October 2 to 4 under the theme ‘Climate Justice for Building Climate Resilience: From Local Action to Global Climate Diplomacy’, the programme will be followed by a public film screening on October 5.

The opening day will begin with a remembrance of lives lost in recent Bhotekoshi disaster. Sessions will cover Nepal’s priorities from the UN General Assembly to COP31, climate diplomacy and security, and litigation on environmental and climate justice. Leaders of political parties will join a dialogue on their priorities for climate justice, and an intergenerational roundtable will bring together elders, experts and children.

On Saturday, seventeen parallel sessions will cover climate justice, loss and damage, sustainability, technology, and the private sector. Topics include young people’s role in shaping the climate narrative, climate finance and loss and damage, organic agriculture, the circular economy, artificial intelligence and climate-resilient infrastructure.

Sunday will focus on frontline voices. A youth-led session will examine the Rasuwa Bhotekoshi flood, parliamentarians will hold a dialogue on climate justice, and representatives of affected communities will speak at the closing plenary. Participants will then receive hands-on training in climate-resilient agriculture through hydroponics.

Organisers say the programme will address climate-finance bottlenecks, data gaps and structural barriers that keep support from reaching the most exposed communities. They want mountain communities, Indigenous Peoples, Dalits, Madhesi women, marginalised groups and youth to have a meaningful role in setting those priorities.

Organisers also hope the week will lay the groundwork for an annual platform in Kathmandu for climate dialogue in South Asia, with a focus on mountain issues. “Nepal’s voice in global climate diplomacy is strongest when it is grounded in the experiences of its people,” organisers said in a press note.