Nepal’s prime minister, Balendra Shah, told the UN General Assembly that last month’s devastating floods in Nepal were a “warning” of the growing risks the world faces from climate change. He called on the international community to help Nepal adapt.
Speaking during the high-level session on Thursday, Shah said the warming climate is “destabilising the fragile Himalayan ecosystem”, thawing permafrost, speeding up the melting of glaciers and raising the risk of many kinds of natural disaster.
Late last month Nepal suffered one of the worst disasters in its history, when a tsunami-like surge caused by a glacier-related collapse in the high mountains near the Nepal-China border wreaked widespread destruction.
More than 1,400 people were killed and about 6,000 are still missing. Nepal’s economic losses from the disaster are estimated at several billion dollars.
Scientists at World Weather Attribution described it as a “compound crisis”, in which local geological instability combined with long-term warming to speed up processes such as glacier retreat and permafrost thaw.
“Nepal accounts for less than 0.1 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions,” Shah said. “We did not create this crisis, yet we are the ones paying its price.”
He called on the international community to bear part of the huge cost Nepal faces in adapting to climate change.
“Nepal cannot build its capacity alone against a crisis made worse by the failures of the global system,” he said.
He proposed a regional initiative called the Himalaya Climate Resilience Mechanism, involving India and China alongside Nepal, to share satellite data and expert advice, monitor glacial lakes and jointly strengthen early warning systems.
Shah, a 36-year-old former rapper, came to power six months ago with broad support from a youth-led anti-corruption movement, raising hopes of change.
Since the disaster, however, climate diplomacy has become the main focus of his government, now taking precedence over its anti-corruption agenda.
Nepal has asked the UN’s Loss and Damage Fund for $20 million, the maximum a single country can request, though that is tiny compared with its needs. The government’s initial estimate puts the total damage from the disaster at about $5 billion.
The fund was set up after Pakistan’s devastating floods in 2022 but has yet to make its first disbursement, so how effective it proves for Nepal is seen as an important test.
Earlier this week, the United States announced a further $31 million for post-flood recovery.
Nepal’s foreign minister, Shishir Khanal, told AFP that G7 countries informally pledged support at a meeting on Wednesday, and that the United Kingdom has also promised help.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report