After continual accusation from Nepal Electricity Authority over the issues of obstruction on the construction of Transmission Line in forest area, secretary of Ministry of Forests and Environment Dr. Bishwa Nath Oli came to defend his ministry’s role.

Denying the accusation by other development ministries including NEA, secretary Dr. Oli has said that the ministry is not creating any hindrance to development activities but it is playing a role of facilitator for environmentally sustainable development.

"Some individuals have been projecting our ministry as a villain of development to gain personal popularity. In reality, our ministry has always supported the move to accelerate development activities and clear the file on Environmental Impact Assessment completing the process," said secretary Dr. Oli.

Addressing an interaction program with media person at Climate Change and Management Division of Ministry of Forests and Environment, secretary Dr. Oli said that the minister is currently involved in major process of drafting new laws, regulations and policies in the changed context of Nepal's governance structure.

“The Ministry is now drafting the law on Environment and Climate Change Act, Forest Act, National Park and Wild Life Management Act and Climate Change Policy, Forest Policy and so on,” said Secretary Dr Oli.

He said that Ministry is working to bring more people during the process of drafting all the policies. Secretary Dr.Oli said that his ministry wants to work with different stakeholders in the process of formulations of the policies.

"As the constitution has given different authority to different levels of governance including center, province and local level, new laws, guidelines and policies will help us work in coordinated manner in the coming days.”

Secretary Dr. Oli also directed the concerned officials of his ministry to disseminate the information regarding the ministry.

He said that protection of environment is the key mandate of his ministry and the ministry functions through forest and wild protection, environment protection and climate protection through various means including Environment Impact Assessment.

"There is the need to maintain certain process and one needs to comply with the procedures. One cannot do whatever one likes in the name of development. There are certain populists who portray his ministry negatively but they are not true," said Dr. Oli. He said that ministry wants to work in collaboration with the media in climate change and all other issues related to environment. He also said that Nepal is holding few very important international conferences in Nepal on climate change.

Organized by Climate Change Management Division for climate change journalists, Maheshwar Dhakal, PhD, Joint Secretary (Technical) Chief, Climate Change Management Division and National Focal Point for UNFCCC and UNCCD , highlighted recent initiative take by his division in implementing climate change related issues. He presented the current state of climate change in Nepal highlighting the constitutional and legal provisions.

Dhakal also briefed how to implement the climate change related policies and international commitments including Paris Agreement at the level of center, province and local in the context of SDGs.

Dhakal also said that he wants to see more participation in the NAP process like in the past of formulating NAPA process. In his presentation, Dhakal presented road map of the division calling all media persons to work together to disseminate climate change issue properly.

Attended by environmental journalists, Spokesperson of the Ministry Dr Sindhu Prasad Dhungana said that the ministry is ready to disseminate the information with media persons.