10 tactics supports climate change action in Nepal

On April 17 "10 tactics" was screened in Nepal as part of the Nepalese Youth Climate Summit (NYCA 2010), which was held for four days between 16-19 April in Sauraha, Chitwan. More than 50 participants attended the screening, which was followed by two workshops on 'building climate campaigns' led by Prashanta Khanal and 'using media for communicating climate change issues' led by Ramesh Bhusal. The summit was organised by the Nepalese Youth for Climate Action and Clean Energy Nepal with support from the Embassy of Finland.

The founding member of NYCA, Prashanta Khanal, learnt about 10 tactics while "surfing the internet" and found that the film “was really inspiring because it includes very successful stories of uses of simple technology and social networking sites to advocate rights and other social issues.” Prashanta decided to screen the film to young people who want to make changes in their society, but do not necessarily have the techniques or the resources to fully develop climate action campaigns.

"In Nepal digital technology and social network sites provide a very effective and inexpensive means for climate campaigning and awareness raising", says Prashanta. "However, there are barriers such as lack of access to the internet or access to simple technology like mobile phones. Also environmental issues are less prioritised than economic, political and social problems." What is needed in Nepal, Prashanta says, is for people to make informed choices about the use technology and for campaigns to be more creative, inspiring and eye-catching.

Over 20 copies of 10 tactics packs and other Tactical Tech toolkits were distributed to the summit participants. Prashanta believes, “10 tactics has inspired the participants to use social media such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs and digital technology like videos, web SMS and Google Earth, to carry out their climate change campaigns.”

The major objective of the summit was to spread awareness and inspire and engage young people to take part in climate change action. Clean Energy Nepal (CEN) has a vision of creating a sustainable Nepal where the right to a clean and healthy environment is ensured for all. It works through educating and raising awareness on issues relating to climate change, energy and other environmental issues. Nepalese Youth for Climate Action (NYCA) is a coalition of Nepali youth and youth groups tackling climate change. NYCA inspires, educates, empowers and mobilises diverse Nepalese youth to create a future that is economically prosperous, environmentally sustainable, and socially just.

During the summit, the participants engaged in a 'Green Idea Cup' which involved them developing eight campaigns or projects designed to tackle climate change problems in their community. The top four campaigns and projects have been awarded with seed funding aimed at encouraging the participants to develop concrete action plans. Many of the campaign ideas developed during the Green Idea Cup had components of using social media and digital technology in order to spread information and to inspire people into action.

Chin Cabrido who works for the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities Centre said that 10 tactics helped many of the participants develop their 'Green Idea Cup' plans: “The toolkit is user friendly and inspires readers to think of creative ways to construct a successful campaign.”

Story written by Prashanta Khanal and Tactical Tech

Images by Prashanta Khanal. Image: Students at the Nepalese Youth for Climate Action.