Nepal’s PM Shah proposes Nepal-India-China mechanism to strengthen Himalayan climate resilience

Kathmandu: Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah has proposed establishing a Himalayan Climate Resilience Mechanism, led by Nepal, India and China, to strengthen regional cooperation in addressing climate-related risks in the Himalayan region.

His proposal came as catastrophic floods on August 26 swept away mountain communities in Nepal with a ferocity that many described as a “Mountain Tsunami” or “Himalayan Tsunami.”

The devastating floods have claimed 1,453 lives, while 5,550 people remain missing, including 636 foreign nationals, as of Thursday evening, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority. Experts have described the disaster as climate change-induced.

Addressing the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, Shah said the trilateral mechanism involving Nepal, India and China would focus on sharing satellite data and technical expertise, monitoring dangerous glacial lakes and strengthening regional early warning systems.

“Let us monitor dangerous glacial lakes. Let us strengthen joint early warning systems. And when disaster strikes, let us coordinate assistance across borders,” he said.

Shah said the Himalayas should become a platform for international cooperation rather than a frontier of fragmented information.

“Let the Himalayas become a laboratory of international cooperation rather than a frontier of fragmented information,” he said.

Highlighting Nepal’s climate actions, Shah said the country had restored forest cover to nearly half of its territory and was expanding hydropower generation to meet clean energy needs and displace fossil-fuel-based energy abroad.

“We are promoting electric mobility with an adoption rate to match parts of Europe. We are strengthening climate adaptation at local levels, and we shall do more to withstand the increasing intensity and frequency of climate disasters,” Shah said.

He stressed that Nepal has made a negligible contribution to climate change, pointing out that the Himalayan country contributes less than 0.1 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

“We did not create this crisis, yet we are paying a colossal price for it. Our glaciers are retreating, our mountain slopes are becoming unstable, our rivers are becoming less predictable, and every major disaster threatens to erase years of development,” Shah said.

He said that, for Nepal, the climate catastrophe was not just a humanitarian event but a development emergency.

“It destroys roads, bridges, schools, homes, farms, and livelihoods. It destroys clean energy infrastructure that we need to fuel our future. And it forces a poor country to borrow money to repair damage it did not cause,” he said.

Shah stressed that Nepal could not build climate resilience alone against a crisis aggravated by weaknesses in global governance.

Highlighting the massive destruction caused by the floods along the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river corridors, which swept away several human settlements, bridges and roads and damaged schools, homes and livelihoods, Shah called for international solidarity to help Nepal recover from the disaster.

According to the Rapid Disaster Needs Assessment (RDNA) report prepared by a joint technical team of the National Planning Commission and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, the recent floods are estimated to have caused losses of US$2.69 billion.

The RDNA report estimates that US$4.77 billion will be required for the reconstruction and recovery of affected infrastructure and assets, equivalent to around 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Prime Minister Shah called on the international community to focus not only on post-disaster relief and reconstruction but also on responsibility, reparation and resilience.

“This is why this Assembly must note six words – relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction, and also responsibility, reparation, resilience,” he said.

According to Shah, the first three are immediate requirements following a disaster, while the latter three are necessary to prevent disasters from becoming a permanent condition for vulnerable countries.

He also called for greater grant-based international support for climate-vulnerable developing countries.

“When a climate-driven disaster destroys the infrastructure of a poor country, the answer cannot simply be another mega loan or a patchwork of small grants,” Shah said. “We need adequate grant-based support from the world.”

“The Loss and Damage Fund, the Global Environment Facility, and other financing mechanisms remain grossly inadequate,” he said.

Shah also criticised what he described as cumbersome procedures for accessing climate finance, saying vulnerable countries should not have to spend years demonstrating their need for assistance.

“Climate finance must not become another bureaucratic maze through which vulnerable countries spend years proving that they need help,” he said.

He said the Nepal floods signalled a future shaped by rising climate extremes.

“Our baselines are no longer relevant, and we must move from ad hoc responses to a culture of preparedness,” he said.

Prime Minister Shah called for financing resilience and investing in insurance and innovation. He also called for stronger infrastructure and institutions to address the climate crisis while stressing the need to reduce emissions.

“Let us reduce fossil fuel dependence. Let us build systems that warn, alert, and save lives. Let us reform the order that leaves the weakest with the least power,” Shah said.

IANS