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As Nepal rebuilds, a climate-vulnerable nation tests the world’s response
On 26 August, an avalanche of ice, rock, water and debris, triggered by a glacial break-off, gushed downstream at a speed of almost 50 metres per second, tearing through Nepal’s Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts and impacting communities almost 100 km away. It claimed almost 1,400 lives, with more than 5,000 still missing, as authorities continue search operations.
The disaster was not simply the result of a single extreme weather event. A synthesis by World Weather Attribution scientists and international glaciologists found that a combination of geological and climatic factors contributed to the catastrophic rock and ice collapse, with decades of human-caused warming likely preconditioning the mountain for failure.
Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah is due to address the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on September 24, where Nepal plans to highlight the losses it has suffered from climate-related disasters and its disproportionate vulnerability, despite contributing little to global greenhouse gas emissions.
Nepal says it will seek immediate and appropriate compensation through mechanisms including the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), as well as accessible and concessional climate finance and technology from developed countries for climate-resilient infrastructure, climate-smart agriculture and capacity building.
More than 100 countries have already sought funding totalling nearly $3 billion from FRLD. The Fund, established in 2022 at COP27 to provide financial support to vulnerable countries to cope with climate change, has received pledges of around $800 million. Only a fraction of that money is currently available for programmes.
The disaster is already shaping expectations for the next round of climate negotiations. Ajay Mathur, Professor at the School of Public Policy at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and a former Indian climate negotiator, said the floods had “rattled negotiators across all developing countries” and would almost certainly lead to calls for more resources for the Loss and Damage Fund at COP31 in Antalya, Turkey. “So this will come onto the agenda, whether we like it or not,” he said.
Nepal’s Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment estimates total damage from the disaster at $1.8 billion, with losses of about $883 million and reconstruction needs of $4.78 billion. A more comprehensive Post-Disaster Needs Assessment is still underway.
As search and rescue operations continue, Nepal is also seeking specialised equipment and supplies from international partners while preparing to take the disaster and its longer-term climate needs to the UNGA.
Also Read: Can the nascent Loss and Damage Fund deliver for Nepal?
The gap between those needs and available international finance has sharpened a longstanding question in climate negotiations: who pays for the resilience vulnerable countries need?
Developing countries have spent years pushing developed countries to deliver more public climate finance, including for adaptation and loss and damage. But as international finance remains inadequate and slow, there is also a debate over what regional powers and emerging economies can do to prepare for risks that cannot wait for multilateral processes.
Nepal will also host a UNGA side event, “Sagarmatha to the Sea: A Call to Action for a Climate-Resilient Future”, focused on the impacts of climate change on the Himalayas and the consequences for countries downstream.
BRICS talked disaster preparedness, Nepal needs more
The recent BRICS summit in New Delhi acknowledged the growing complexity of disaster risks, including those linked to climate change. Its declaration stressed the importance of disaster-risk reduction, climate adaptation, information sharing and investment in early-warning systems and disaster-resilient infrastructure. It also called for greater cooperation to strengthen national emergency systems.
But the declaration did not specifically respond to Nepal’s disaster.
Also Read: BRICS Has a Resilience Blueprint. Financing it is the Challenge
With international moments like UNGA and COP31 coming up, experts say BRICS could still provide a platform for regional cooperation on disaster preparedness, data sharing and financing.
“What we need to do is operationalise the pledges that have been made, and emphasise that adaptation finance should get equal weightage, not just mitigation finance,” said Ulka Kelkar, Executive Director of Climate, Economics & Finance at World Resources Institute India. “But that $300 billion per year target [as agreed upon at COP29] is far from being met.”
Nepal has clarified that it is not seeking compensation from any specific country. Its position is that developed countries have responsibilities under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement, while regional cooperation with neighbouring countries is needed on disaster preparedness, data sharing and resilience.
Avantika Goswami, Programme Manager, Climate Change and Green Economy at the Centre for Science and Environment, said the “onus” for providing funds to the FRLD is on developed countries.
“The money pledged [by developed countries] is 11 times more than the claimed money. It is not being honoured. Any support that should come from developing countries should be voluntary. India and China are already providing aid to Nepal.”
She added that for low and middle income countries, every disaster requires rebuilding and recovery, which further strains limited domestic budgets already spread thin across multiple competing objectives. To allocate more to climate adaptation, there is also limited ability to raise taxes on the population.
In a fractured geopolitical landscape and slow multilateral system, some experts see a case for regional mechanisms that can provide faster support.
Mathur has proposed resilience and insurance pools for specific regions in the Global South through established regional country pacts. “Operating as a rapid-payout parametric insurance pool, funds would be released automatically upon satellite detection of threshold climate triggers,” he said.
Amar Ujala - New Delhi
धूप में आई तेजी तो जहरीली हुई हवा: दिल्ली-एनसीआर में ओजोन ढा रही है कहर, बढ़ने लगा असर; हालात चिंताजनक
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