Nepal urges faster climate funding after deadly floods

Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah told the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday that the country’s catastrophic August floods were a “warning to the world,” urging stronger international support for nations facing climate disasters they did little to cause.

The floods killed at least 1,400 people, with more still missing, ABC News US reported. International scientists have linked thawing permafrost to instability in a glacier that partly collapsed and triggered the flooding. Workers were among those trapped in hydropower tunnels during the disaster.

Shah said Nepal produces less than one-tenth of 1% of global heat-trapping emissions, while its glaciers are retreating, mountain slopes are becoming unstable and rivers are growing less predictable. He accused political leaders of failing to act on scientific warnings at the speed and scale vulnerable communities require.

Although Shah did not request a specific amount of aid, he described the international climate-finance system as inadequate and overly bureaucratic, including the U.N. loss and damage fund created to assist poorer countries affected by climate disasters. Nepal’s environment minister separately told DW that the country needs funding rather than “sympathy.”

Nature reported that the floods have renewed scrutiny of how the loss and damage fund can distribute financing fairly and quickly without putting low-resource countries at a disadvantage. Shah said Nepal could not adapt to escalating Himalayan climate threats without international help.