Nepal Prime Minister Balendra Shah has used his maiden address to the United Nations General Assembly to demand a stronger international response to climate-induced disasters, arguing that countries with low historical emissions should not be left to bear the financial burden of a crisis they contributed little to creating.
Speaking against the backdrop of the devastating August 26 Bhotekoshi-Trishuli floods, Shah called for the principles of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC) to be translated into concrete financial and institutional support.
“Climate justice cannot remain a beautiful phrase in a United Nations document,” Shah said, stressing that vulnerable countries need resources to rebuild rather than repeatedly borrow to recover from disasters.
The floods and associated cascading hazards have killed more than 1,400 people, while thousands remain missing, according to figures cited by the Nepalese government. Nepal has estimated that physical recovery could require resources equivalent to about 10% of its GDP.
Shah described the disaster as a “mountain tsunami” and warned that the consequences extended beyond Nepal. He said the disaster demonstrated how climate risks in the Himalayas transcend national boundaries, with the impacts spreading across the Nepal-China border and downstream into India.
“Climate change does not recognise borders. Glaciers and floods do not travel with stamps and passports,” he said.
Nepal contributes less than 0.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, Shah pointed out, yet faces retreating glaciers, unstable mountain slopes, unpredictable rivers and increasingly destructive disasters. He said climate disasters were no longer simply humanitarian emergencies but development crises that destroy infrastructure and erase years of economic progress.
A key proposal in his speech was the creation of a Himalaya Climate Resilience Mechanism, led by Nepal, India and China. The proposed mechanism would facilitate the sharing of satellite data and technical expertise, monitoring of dangerous glacial lakes, joint early-warning systems and coordinated disaster response.
“The Himalayas are not peripheral to the planet; they are part of the planet’s life support system,” Shah said, highlighting the importance of the Hindu Kush Himalaya region to nearly two billion people.
He also urged international institutions to provide grant-based finance rather than adding to the debt burden of vulnerable countries. Nepal has sought $20 million from the UN-backed Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, while its estimated reconstruction and economic losses run into billions of dollars. An analysis by Carbon Brief put the $20-million request at about 0.7% of Nepal’s estimated $2.7-billion physical damage and economic losses.
“When the house is burning, we do not ask a family to complete 50 forms. We act,” Shah said, calling for climate finance mechanisms that can respond more rapidly to disasters.
The appeal comes as the Loss and Damage Fund faces questions over the scale and speed of financing. The fund currently holds around $300 million, against substantially larger pledges and an even greater need among vulnerable countries.
Ajay Mathur, India’s lead negotiator at the Paris climate negotiations and former Director General of the International Solar Alliance, said the fund would need to be adequately resourced. “It is extremely important that the Loss & Damage Fund is resourced fully at the upcoming COP31 in Antalya,” Mathur said.
Li Shuo, Director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said Nepal’s appeal would test the international climate regime at a difficult geopolitical moment. “Nepal’s appeal for international support will test the global resolve to assist vulnerable countries and, more broadly, the responsiveness of the global climate regime,” he said.
He also pointed to the particular responsibility of India and China, saying climate and disaster risks in the Himalayas are transboundary and require sustained regional cooperation.
Harjeet Singh, Global Convenor of the Fill the Fund campaign, said the disaster demonstrated the gap between the scale of climate losses and available finance. “Vulnerable nations cannot rebuild on sympathy alone,” Singh said, calling for the Loss and Damage Fund to become a fully operational rapid-response mechanism, with disbursements provided as grants rather than loans.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, in his final UNGA address, also referred to Nepal’s disaster, recalling his 2023 warning from the Himalayas that “the rooftops of the world are caving in”. He said recent events showed that climate impacts were arriving sooner and with greater severity.
Other leaders stressed the need to turn climate commitments into implementation. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said COP31 should focus on implementation, while Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman reiterated that collective action based on CBDR-RC was essential.
With the next meeting of the Loss and Damage Fund board scheduled for December and COP31 later this year, Nepal’s appeal has placed Himalayan disaster risk, climate finance and the principle of climate justice firmly on the international agenda.