Nepal Calls for Climate Justice, Proposes Himalayan Resilience at UN
Islamabad (ANTARA) - Nepal has called for climate justice and proposed a new regional mechanism involving Nepal, India, and China to address increasing climate risks in the Himalayas, during its speech at the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday (24/9).
Nepalese Prime Minister Balendra Shah stated that last month’s catastrophic disasters demonstrate how climate change is disrupting the Himalayan ecosystem through the melting of permafrost, mountain slope instability, and the increasing risk of ice and rock avalanches, floods, and landslides.
On 26 August 2026, Nepal experienced a disaster in the form of flash floods resembling a tsunami caused by the collapse of a large glacier at high altitude.
“We did not create this crisis, yet we must bear its very heavy impact,” he said, noting that Nepal’s contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions is less than 0.1 per cent.
According to Nepalese authorities, the disaster killed more than 1,400 people, while thousands of others remain missing. Current assessments estimate economic losses and physical damage to reach billions of dollars.
Shah proposed the establishment of a “Himalayan Climate Resilience Mechanism” led by Nepal, India, and China to share satellite data and scientific expertise, monitor dangerous glacial lakes, strengthen cross-border early warning systems, and coordinate disaster relief.
“Let us make the Himalayas a laboratory for international cooperation, rather than a frontline for fragmented information,” he said.
Shah also urged wealthy nations to provide larger grant-based climate funding, arguing that mechanisms such as the Loss and Damage Fund and the Global Environment Facility remain inadequate.
“Climate justice must not merely be a beautiful phrase in United Nations documents,” he emphasised.
Nepal is increasingly placing the issue of climate justice at the centre of its international diplomacy following the disaster, which has devastated homes, roads, schools, and hydropower infrastructure in several districts.
Shah stated that the international response must be built upon six principles: “emergency aid, rehabilitation, reconstruction” as well as “responsibility, recovery, and resilience.”