Kathmandu: Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) Climate Change Partnership Program organized a 3-day consultation meeting of Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP)’s member organizations in Nepal, in Nagarkot, Bhaktapur, on July 6-8, 2022. The program was attended by 37 representatives (24 men and 13 women) from AIPP member organizations as well as the NEFIN District Coordination Council and the NEFIN Province Coordination Council. The event was held in support of Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and in collaboration with AIPP.

The objective of the meeting was to review the AIPP member organizations’ past and present, strategies and chalk out a future action plan. During the event, presentations on different themes were made by Mr. Tunga Bhadra Rai, Dr. Mukta Singh Lama, Mr. Amrit Yonjan Tamang, Dr. Shri kumar Maharjan, Mr. Diwas Rai, Ms. Pragya Rai, Ms. Chinimaya Majhi, Dr. Lava Dev Awasthi, and Mr. Ram Bahadur Thapa Magar. A vartual session was presented by Tassanee Surawanna from AIPP, Thailand.

As per its objective, the meeting discussed how the AIPP member organizations in Nepal had been working together and also reviewed their pas strategic plan. They also deliberated on indigenous peoples’ language and literature and shared regional and international experiences in advancing indigenous peoples’ rights.

Likewise, discussions were held on indigenous peoples’ engagement in mechanisms and processes under United Nations Permanent Forum on indigenous issues (UNPFII), Expert Mechanism on Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Global Environment Facility (GEF), Green Climate Fund (GCF), Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and Climate Investment Fund (CIF).

The meeting also dwelt on a range of IPs-related topics including National Foundation for Development of Indigenous Nationalities (NFDIN)’s plans and programs, AIPP’s Gender Policy, IPs-targeted programs of the Language Commission and Indigenous Peoples’ Commission of Nepal.

In Nepal, NEFIN, National Indigenous Women’s Federation (NIWF), Nepal Indigenous Disabled Association (NIDA), Youth Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (YFIN) and NGO-Federation of Nepalese Indigenous Nationalities (NGO-FONIN) are the member organizations of AIPP.