It is that time of the year when climate change reports are continually issued, most of them with serious warnings. The release of most of these studies is timed with the annual climate change conference hosted by the United Nations.

As long as there are mountains, there will be landslides. Earthquakes and extreme weather events including those related to climate change will make them more frequent and intense.

Logistically, the annual UN climate conferences are organised quite meticulously. The event venue, usually quite spacious, becomes a self-sustained “town” where thousands of people from across the globe assemble to decide the fate of the planet. And yet, something was missing big time at the meeting venues over the years—until the Paris summit last November.

Just when Nepalis in the eastern part of the country were getting worried about their marooned land because of torrential rainfall earlier this week, news from across the border was much painful.

During the Copenhagen climate summit in 2009, Nepal’s then environment minister Ganesh Shah had a reason to be frustrated. Not because the global meet was not moving ahead but that it did not address the issues of mountain countries.

Right before world leaders struck a deal on global climate change in Paris last Saturday, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius called the final draft text ‘balanced’. By that, he might have meant that the agreement addressed the demands of different negotiating blocs within the UN climate negotiations. The groups included those of rich countries, fast-emerging economies, least-developed countries, and small-island states—nations that call themselves most vulnerable to climate change—among others.