Even as a “jumbo” Nepali official delegation is attending the global climate talks in Paris this week, Nepal has not submitted a crucial document outlining national actions and priorities that would form a key part of the climate discussions at the platform in France.

While at least two dozen government officials and representatives including the environment minister, three secretaries and lawmakers are expected to attend the Conference of Parties

(CoP 21), Nepal has not submitted the Intended Nationally Determined Contribution. INDC is an outline of post-2020 climate actions expected from 179 countries to pave the path for a low-carbon and climate-resilient future. The meet ends on December 11.

The national parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) had agreed in Poland in 2013 to submit INDCs, which are statements from each country of their voluntary mitigation and adaptation measures. Despite two years of preparations, Nepal has been the only country in South Asia not to submit the document necessary for setting the tone for discussions on combating the effects of climate change.

An UNFCCC official from Bonn, Germany, said Nepal was among the 13 countries that have not submitted their INDCs to the agency’s secretariat. Krishna Chandra Paudel, secretary at the Ministry of Science, Tech-nology and Environment, said from Paris that the INDC paper is in the approval process. “We’ll complete it after stakeholders’ consultation,” he said.

Sabita Thapa, a senior climate change adviser at the Department for International Development in Kenya, said Nepal could have used this global platform to tell the world what goals it has set to combat climate change and how much technical and financial resource it needs to implement the mitigation and adaptation measures.

Thapa who closely worked with the Environment Ministry in Nepal while implementing local adaptation programmes on climate change said the country had failed even to share the achievements it has made in the field of adaptation.

“This is a missed opportunity to tell the world leaders, especially donors, that the country is working to combat climate change on its own and needs adequate financial and technical support to achieve a climate-resilient future,” she said.

Developing countries are allowed to take a flexible approach, where they could include both mitigation and adaptation measures through respective INDCs.

“Nepal could have utilised the INDC document to tell the world how the country is willing to turn the fuel crisis into low carbon opportunity by embracing renewables,” said Navin Singh Khadka, a BBC environmental journalist and columnist for The Kathmandu Post, who keeps close tabs on climate change negotiations.

“INDC need not necessarily be just about mitigation. It can also be about adaptation. So it’s indeed an influential document to get your voice/position heard,” Khadka said. The Nepali team could still draw the global attention through interventions in meetings and plenaries.

Environment Minister Bishwendra Paswan, who will also attend the conference, said he would raise challenges facing the mountains due to climate change at the summit, while urging developed nations to commit more resources for adaptation. Saying that he had no idea about the INDC document, Paswan blamed officials at his ministry for not briefing him adequately on the matter.