After floods, Nepal expects support from the loss and damage fund — Climate Home News
Nepal is awaiting an official response to its request for urgent support from the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage after a sudden flood in the Bhote Koshi river basin. The flood occurred on August 26 in the northern district of Rasuwa, damaging settlements, roads and energy infrastructure.
According to Nepali scientist Manjit Dhakal, who advises the least developed countries in the UN climate process, the disaster claimed the lives of more than 1,450 people, while nearly 6,000 others are still considered missing.
The risks were known
Climate Home News editor Megan Rowling noted that the risks associated with accelerated glacier melting in the Himalayas have been studied for decades. At the same time, in her view, this knowledge was not translated quickly enough into practical measures to protect communities.
The publication also recalled previous studies of risks for downstream communities, international programs to prevent glacial lake outburst floods, and attempts to establish monitoring systems. Bill McGuire, former head of the Benfield Hazard Research Centre at University College London, had previously forecast an increase in the number of large-scale landslides in mountainous areas.
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Adaptation financing gap
During Climate Week NYC, experts from Nepal, Brazil, Sierra Leone and the Marshall Islands discussed practical adaptation measures. These included planting trees to stabilize slopes, heat insurance for informal workers, drought-resistant seeds and solar panels for irrigating agricultural land along the Nile.
Mikko Ollikainen, head of the UN Adaptation Fund, said that the fund's project portfolio amounts to $1.6 billion, while projects awaiting financing require another $1.8 billion. According to him, donor countries have not met the annual target of raising $300 million at COP climate conferences in recent years.
Julia Gardiner, chair of the UN implementation body, said that at COP31 in Turkey, governments may face pressure to meet the goal of tripling adaptation finance by 2035 and replenish the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage. Prakriti Dhakal, personal deputy to the secretary of Nepal's prime minister, called on international partners to turn compassion into long-term support for affected communities, including by supporting Nepal's proposed Himalayan Climate Resilience Mechanism.
