NEW YORK: Nepalese Prime Minister Balendra Shah used his first address to the United Nations General Assembly since taking office to issue a stark warning over the growing threat of climate change, saying the catastrophic floods that devastated Nepal last month should serve as a “warning to the world.”
Addressing the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 24, Shah focused heavily on the human and economic toll of the recent Bhotekoshi-Trishuli disaster, climate justice and the need for greater international cooperation to protect the Himalayan region.
Shah, who was sworn in as Nepal’s prime minister on March 27 following his party’s sweeping victory in the March parliamentary elections, told world leaders that Nepal was confronting “death and destruction of epic proportions” rather than being able to focus solely on development, democracy and the aspirations of its young population.
The floods struck Nepal’s mountainous areas in late August following a major glacial and landslide disaster and caused widespread destruction along the Bhotekoshi-Trishuli river system.
Shah said at least 1,400 people had been confirmed dead and more than 6,000 remained missing, while preliminary estimates placed physical recovery needs at around 10 percent of Nepal’s gross domestic product.
Calling the catastrophe a “Himalayan Tsunami,” Shah argued that the disaster demonstrated how climate-related risks in the Himalayas could quickly cross national borders.
He said warming temperatures were destabilising the fragile Himalayan ecosystem, with melting permafrost contributing to unstable mountain slopes and increasing the danger of ice-rock avalanches, landslides and floods.
The resulting flood affected areas on both sides of the Nepal-China border before continuing downstream towards India, Shah said.
“Climate change does not recognise borders,” the prime minister told the General Assembly, stressing the need for regional cooperation rather than isolated national responses.
Shah proposes Himalayan climate mechanism
One of the major proposals in Shah’s address was the creation of a Himalayan Climate Resilience Mechanism, which he said should be led by Nepal, India and China.
Under the proposed mechanism, the three countries would share satellite information and technical expertise, monitor potentially dangerous glacial lakes, strengthen cross-border early-warning systems and coordinate emergency assistance when disasters occur.
Shah said the Himalayan region supported water supplies, ecosystems, agriculture and livelihoods for nearly two billion people, arguing that its protection was a global concern rather than an issue limited to countries in the mountains.
He also thanked India, China, the United Nations, humanitarian agencies and other international partners for providing assistance following the disaster.
‘We did not create this crisis’
Making a broader case for climate justice, Shah said Nepal contributes less than 0.1 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions but remains highly vulnerable to the consequences of a warming planet.
He argued that repeated disasters threatened to erase years of economic and infrastructure development in poorer countries by destroying roads, bridges, schools, farms, homes and energy projects.
For Nepal, Shah said, climate change had therefore become not only a humanitarian issue but also a development emergency.
He called on countries that had historically contributed more to global emissions, and those with greater financial capacity, to shoulder a larger share of the response, pointing to the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” under the UN climate framework.
The prime minister also called for greater grant-based assistance for climate-vulnerable countries, criticising existing international climate-finance mechanisms as insufficient and overly bureaucratic.
Shah said developing countries should not be forced to take on large amounts of additional debt simply to rebuild infrastructure damaged by climate-related disasters.
Shah’s speech went beyond climate change and also questioned the priorities of the existing international system.
Referring to disruptions in supplies of fertiliser, fuel and construction materials faced by Nepal, Shah contrasted the difficulties experienced by ordinary people with the speed at which weapons can move through international supply chains.
“A world that can deliver a weapon anywhere in seventy-two hours has no excuse for leaving a farmer without means for a decent livelihood,” he said.
He cited similar pressures faced by Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, arguing that developing countries were being affected both by climate shocks they had contributed little to creating and by the economic consequences of conflicts they had not started.
Despite his criticism of the present international system, Shah reaffirmed Nepal’s support for multilateralism and the United Nations, saying smaller and poorer countries needed international institutions where their concerns could be heard.
From disaster response to resilience
Concluding his address, Shah urged governments to move away from temporary responses to disasters and instead invest in long-term preparedness, early-warning systems, stronger infrastructure, insurance, innovation and reduced dependence on fossil fuels.
He summed up Nepal’s priorities through six words: “relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction, responsibility, reparation and resilience.”
The first three, he said, were necessary after disasters, while the latter three were essential to prevent climate catastrophes from becoming a permanent condition for vulnerable countries.
“The Nepal floods signal a future shaped by rising climate extremes,” Shah said, urging world leaders to respond more quickly when future warnings emerge from the Himalayas.
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