Kathmandu: Naming the United States, China, and India as the biggest greenhouse gas emitters, Nepal has demanded climate compensation from the countries for the recent flash floods that have left over a thousand people dead and more than 4,000 still missing.
Nepal Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal said the nation contributes barely any greenhouse gas emissions, and yet it is bearing an excessive share of the consequences of climate change, rapid glacier melt and major mountain disasters.
“We are paying the ultimate price for a global crisis we did not create. The rapid melting of glaciers and these catastrophic mountain tsunamis are direct consequences of global climate change,” Khanal said in an interview with local media.
He asserted that Nepal was changing its diplomatic approach from seeking aid to asking for “justice and compensation.”
‘Not a matter of charity’
“This is not a matter of charity; it is a matter of legal and moral liability,” he said. Nepal would raise the matter “with absolute firmness and clarity” at international forums, Khanal added.
He said China, the US and India were among the world’s three largest greenhouse gas emitters; thus, they had a “historical responsibility to compensate vulnerable nations like Nepal.” The foreign minister said the issue was about “civilisational survival.”
“If our Himalayan glaciers disappear, the water security of over two billion people in South Asia dependent on rivers like the Ganges and the Trishuli will be permanently compromised,” he said. “We are advocating not just for Nepal, but for the survival of South Asian civilisation.”
Nepal approaches UN body for funds
Nepal also formally approached the UN-backed Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage for urgent financial help after the flash flood. Finance Minister Swarnin Wagle and Forests and Agriculture Minister Geeta Chaudhary said in a jointly signed letter that the floods have caused extensive economic and non-economic losses that went beyond what Nepal’s immediate response was capable of.
According to the Finance Minister, Nepal might need USD 4 to 5 billion, around 10 per cent of its economy, to rebuild the affected areas destroyed by the floods.
Nepal flash floods
The flash floods, triggered by an ice-rock avalanche near the Nepal-Tibet border on August 26, devastated towns and villages in northern and central Nepal, leaving a trail of destruction and thousands of people missing.
The death toll from the flash floods rose to 1,127 on Wednesday, with nearly 4,900 still missing, as rescuers battled rain and debris, while Prime Minister Balendra Shah said the disaster’s link to climate change must be strongly raised with the international community.
Addressing the House of Representatives, PM Shah said the scale and nature of the disaster raised serious questions about the growing risks faced by people living in the Himalayan region due to climate change.
“According to experts, the flash flood in Bhotekoshi of Rasuwa district was caused by an ice-rock avalanche in the Himalayas. This incident shows the increasing risk the people of the mountain region have to bear with the occurrence of climate change,” he said.
| 
