- Nepal’s major political parties focus their election manifestos on mega projects, viewing big construction as the primary engine for economic growth.
- Despite Nepal ranking as the sixth most climate-vulnerable nation globally, parties largely treat environmental issues as an afterthought or a development delay, often ignoring the fact that recent climate-driven disasters have already severely damaged expensive infrastructure like the Melamchi water project.
- While “green” terminology occasionally appears in the fine print to satisfy international frameworks, experts warn that low budget allocations and a lack of coordination mean these environmental commitments usually remain “on paper” while industrial expansion takes center stage.
KATHMANDU — Bigger hydropower plants, wider roads and more transmission lines: These are the promises major political parties in Nepal are presenting to win votes in the country’s general elections, scheduled for March 5, a quick scan of the cover illustrations used in their manifestos suggest.
The images show that despite rising climate risks across the country, major political parties continue to prioritize economic growth and mega infrastructure expansion, with climate and environmental issues receiving limited space even in their imagination, experts say.
“The manifestos seem to reflect a dominant view that Nepal needs to focus on roads, bridges, industries, hospitals and educational institutions,” said researcher Ambarish Pokhrel of the Chubu Institute for Advanced Studies, Japan. “They also view environmental and climate issues as not urgent,” even as impacts are already affecting communities at the grassroots level “and they only slow down development,” he added.
Globally, Nepal is one of the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. It ranked sixth on the list of countries most impacted by climate change in 2024, according to the Germanwatch Climate Risk Index.
Rising global temperatures have changed monsoon characteristics and prolonged winter droughts. In the Himalayan areas, glacial melting and glacial lake outburst risks are rising; in the hill regions, landslides are becoming more frequent and in the Tarai-Madhesh, floods and inundation are intensifying. These changes are already affecting agricultural productivity, energy production, tourism and daily life.
Mega infrastructure projects also have borne the brunt of climate change as they weren’t designed to cope with potential climate risks. In 2021, the $464 million project to divert water from the Melamchi River to Kathmandu was badly damaged by floods triggered by intense rainfall attributed to climate change. Similarly, 17 hydropower projects with a capacity of 180 MW and 15 projects with a capacity of 338 MW under construction were affected by floods following heavy rain in October 2025.
Despite these risks, major political parties have invested only a few words in their manifestos for climate change and its impacts, an in-depth reading of the documents shows. In contrast, they have written pages after pages on economic growth, infrastructure expansion and employment generation, which dominate policy commitments.
The Nepali Congress, one of the oldest parties with a green tree as its electoral symbol, has declared the next five years as a “half-decade of economic recovery,” committing to expand Nepal’s economy to 115 trillion rupees ($791 billion) and raise per capita income to 364,000 rupees ($2,500) through second-generation economic reforms. The manifesto prioritizes infrastructure construction, governance reforms, social security, employment generation and import substitution.
The party emphasizes highway expansion linking provincial capitals to local centers, the East-West Railway project, interprovincial road networks and major hydropower projects, including Budhigandaki and Koshi.
Environmental and climate issues appear later in the document.
Bir Bahadur Balayar, former member of Parliament representing the party, said the Nepali Congress’ focus on infrastructure was “unfortunate.”
“Our mountains are already facing the impacts of climate change, and disasters such as floods, landslides and inundation are increasing,” Balayar told Mongabay. “However, while expanding infrastructure, political parties and government policies do not appear to both understand and address the impacts.”
Similar tendencies appear in the manifestos of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) and the Rastriya Swatantra Party, as both emphasize economic growth, employment and infrastructure development.
The CPN-UML, under its slogan “Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali,” has committed to achieving 7-9% economic growth through expansion in agriculture, electricity generation, industrial production, information technology and physical infrastructure.
Environment and climate issues appear under the broader heading of sustainable development, with emphasis on mobilizing climate finance and expanding access to international technology for climate adaptation and mitigation. However, the party led by former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is yet to make implementation plans public.
Party senior leader and former member of Parliament Raghuji Pant told Mongabay his party is aware of the need to balance development and environmental protection. “However, there are also complaints that raising environmental concerns causes delays in development projects and increases their costs,” he said.
“Our intention is to ensure that development plans do not become unnecessarily expensive by getting entangled in environmental issues. At the same time, we are equally cautious that development projects which cause excessive environmental damage should not be moved forward. Our position is that progress should be made by finding a balance between the two,” Pant said.
The Rastriya Swatantra Party’s 100-point election commitment places climate change mitigation at point 95, highlighting Nepal’s access to global climate funds and compensation mechanisms. Infrastructure commitments such as roads, railways, energy and building construction are prominently presented on the manifesto’s cover page.
Maheshwar Ghimire, one of the members involved in its drafting, told Mongabay that prioritizing physical infrastructure was only “natural,” given Nepal’s development needs. He said the manifesto outlines macro-level commitments while detailed policies are reflected in broader government programs. Public suggestions during drafting, he added, focused more on drinking water, roads, energy and agriculture.
Although earlier election manifestos included renewable energy, forest conservation, electric transport, disaster risk reduction, early warning systems and climate adaptation and they referenced international frameworks such as the Paris Agreement, many commitments have remained limited to paper.
Low environmental budget allocation, weak institutional capacity, underutilization of international climate finance and coordination gaps among federal, provincial and local governments continue to hinder implementation of whatever limited issues get the attention of political parties, researcher Pokhrel said.
Banner image: A worker screen-prints flags of the Nepali Congress Party for sale ahead of general election in Kathmandu, Jan. 27, 2026. Image by AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha.
As Nepal votes, climate change is an elephant in the room for Sherpa community
Citations:
Fiaz, A., Rahman, G., & Kwon, H. (2025). Impacts of climate change on the South Asian monsoon: A comprehensive review of its variability and future projections. Journal of Hydro-environment Research, 59, 100654. doi:10.1016/j.jher.2025.100654
Suzuki, K., Tsutsumi, D., Takayama, S., Satofuka, Y., & Bishwakarma, M. B. (2025). Increasing risk of glacial lake outburst floods caused by moraine collapse due to global warming in the himalayan mountain range. International Journal of Erosion Control Engineering, 18(1), 11-26. doi:10.13101/ijece.18.11
Adhakari, B. R. (2013). Flooding and Inundation in Nepal terai: Issues and concerns. Hydro Nepal: Journal of Water, Energy and Environment, 12, 59-65. doi:10.3126/hn.v12i0.9034
K.C., A. (2017). Climate change and its impact on tourism in Nepal. Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education, 7, 25-43. doi:10.3126/jthe.v7i0.17688
Baniya, B., Tang, Q., Adhikari, T. R., Zhao, G., Haile, G. G., Sigdel, M., & He, L. (2024). Climate change induced Melamchi extreme flood and environment implication in central Himalaya of Nepal. Natural Hazards, 120(12), 11009-11029. doi:10.1007/s11069-024-06645-7
Credits
