Nepal has ramped up its call for international climate justice after devastating flash floods struck the Bhotekoshi River basin, demanding that major greenhouse gas emitters such as India, China and the United States pay for climate-related losses. The Himalayan nation argues that countries with relatively low emissions are bearing the brunt of the warming of the earth, with melting glaciers, extreme rainfall and rising mountain disasters.
The appeal comes after a disaster on August 26 that left a trail of destruction across a wide swathe of Nepal. In large parts of Nepal, freezing water, rocks and debris were seen strewn through communities as a glacial collapse high above the Tibet-Nepal border occurred.
Nepal Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal has framed Kathmandu’s position as climate justice, not assistance to traditional disaster relief as a matter of climate justice. Nepal should not have to depend on charity and emergency assistance to recover from disasters that are increasingly being linked to the effects of global climate change, he argued, and major industrial producers have a moral and historical duty to help vulnerable countries that suffer disproportionate levels of climate-related damage.
Khanal identified China, the United States and India as major global emitters and said Nepal would raise the issue in a strong voice at international forums. Nepal's greenhouse gas emissions are negligible compared to its climate-related risks, he said. It is an extremely climate-sensitive country with glaciers and mountains that are too mountainous.
The Minister also emphasized the wider regional implications of melting Himalayan glaciers. Nepal's mountains are a vital source of water to major river systems in South Asia and changes in glacier conditions could affect millions of people far beyond Nepal’s borders. Khanal said continued glacier loss can pose big long-term challenges for water security across the region and so the issue is broader than the recovery of one country after a natural disaster.
The compensation demand also links Nepal’s latest appeal to the international discussion of “loss and damage” caused by climate change. For years developing countries argued that wealthy and highly industrialised countries should provide financial assistance when vulnerable countries suffer irreversible economic and non-economic damage linked to climate change.
The Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage was established at COP27 climate conference in 2022 and operationalised at COP28. Nepal has now formally approached the fund's board to request urgent financial assistance after the Bhotekoshi disaster. A letter jointly signed by Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle and Forests and Agriculture Minister Geeta Chaudhary declared that the disaster had caused extensive damage that exceeded Nepal's immediate response capacity.
The total economic and non-economic cost of the disaster is still being assessed, the government has said. In addition to deaths and displacement there is also damage to homes, public infrastructure and other basic facilities. Determining the financial impact could take years as authorities comb through affected areas and record losses.
India's well-established position on climate negotiations adds another dimension to Nepal's demand. New Delhi has always stressed climate equity, telling us that countries should not be judged just by their current emissions. India has frequently emphasized its relatively low per-capita emissions and that climate responsibilities need to account for history, development and the various levels of capacity of nations.
संघ सरकारले प्रदेश र स्थानीय सरकारसँग समन्वय किन नगरेको ? FIRESIDE REEL । SHISHIR KHANAL
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India has also supported international mechanisms for loss and damage in vulnerable developing countries, arguing that developed countries that industrialised earlier bear a significant share of historical responsibility for accumulated greenhouse gas emissions. New Delhi has repeatedly called for adequate climate finance to help developing nations adapt to climate impacts and pursue sustainable development.
Nepal’s latest diplomatic action is also likely to add to the already complicated global debate concerning who should pay for climate-related disasters. In this context, while a direct legal responsibility for an individual disaster remains a very complex issue, Nepal’s argument is also representative of the larger issue that is well known among climate-vulnerable nations: the countries that suffer the most damage are not necessarily the countries that have most of the historical emissions.
For Nepal, the Bhotekoshi disaster has brought that issue into sharp focus. Kathmandu is now trying to turn the conversation away from emergency relief and toward long-term climate financing, compensation and accountability. And the country’s plea will be a topic of interest at upcoming international climate talks as countries continue to debate how the global loss-and-damage framework should work in practice.
