In partnership with Climate Action Nepal, led by Ujjwal Upadhyay, South Asian Youth for SDGs (SAYS) together with KAS Political Dialogue Asia represented by Jonas Nitschke and Megha Sarmah engaged with representatives of the Bote community in Chitwan to better understand the local impacts of climate change.
The discussion highlighted how climate change is intensifying human wildlife conflict, disproportionately affecting marginalized communities. Community members shared that while poverty has long been a challenge, the increasing impacts of climate change such as rising cases of animal attacks, lack of firewood, and growing livelihood pressures are making their situation significantly more difficult.
We had the opportunity to interact with several local stakeholders including Mitra Lal Botey, Bishnu Mahato, Sushila Baral, Tek Bahadur Ranabhat, and Indira Botey.
This engagement was followed by a discussion with Chitrasen Adhikari, who expressed strong interest in our initiatives and discussed potential areas for future collaboration in terms of introducing it in the budget of the municipality of Bharatpur Metropolitan City and exploring a regional implementation in South Asia.
These conversations reinforce the importance of locally grounded and community driven climate action that centers the voices of those most affected.
