Nepal’s Prime Minister Shah calls for stronger Himalayan resilience — Kathmandu Post

Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah, speaking at the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, called for the creation of a Himalayan climate resilience mechanism involving Nepal, India and China. He linked the initiative to the devastating Bhotekoshi-Trishuli floods, which he described as a warning of escalating climate risks in the region.

Consequences of the floods

As the Kathmandu Post reports, Shah said that at least 1,400 people were killed in the disaster, while more than 6,000 people are still considered missing. According to him, the disaster washed away roads, bridges, schools, homes and the livelihoods of local communities. Preliminary assessments put physical recovery needs at approximately 10% of Nepal’s GDP.

Shah said that warming is destabilizing the vulnerable Himalayan ecosystem. Among the interconnected threats, he named permafrost thaw, mountain slope instability, ice-rock avalanches, floods and landslides. According to him, the consequences of the disaster spread across the border between Nepal and China, while floodwaters continued onward to India.

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The prime minister also said that Nepal produces less than 0.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet the country’s glaciers are retreating, slopes are becoming more unstable and rivers are becoming less predictable. He described climate disasters for Nepal as not only a humanitarian event, but also a development emergency for the country.

Regional cooperation and financing

The proposed mechanism is intended to facilitate the exchange of satellite data and expert knowledge, monitoring of hazardous glacial lakes, strengthening of joint early-warning systems and coordination of cross-border disaster response. Shah said that the Himalayas should become a space for international cooperation rather than a region with fragmented critical information.

Nepal’s prime minister also called on international partners to provide more grant financing for recovery after climate disasters. He said that countries vulnerable to the effects of climate change should not have to take out new large loans to repair destroyed infrastructure. Shah described existing climate financing mechanisms, including the Loss and Damage Fund and the Global Environment Facility, as insufficient and called for access to funds to be simplified and accelerated.