A senior Nepali official confirmed that his country has requested emergency financial assistance from the United Nations’ special fund for climate disaster recovery, estimating the cost of recovery at $5 billion.
Maheshwar Dhakal, head of the climate change division at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Environment, stated directly that human-driven global warming was one of the defining factors behind the catastrophic glacier collapse and subsequent floods that occurred last week. In an interview, he called the event deeply unjust, as decades of greenhouse gas emissions by wealthy nations are harming vulnerable countries that cannot cope with the consequences.
“Those who have contributed the least are suffering the most,” Dhakal said, citing a letter sent by Nepal’s government to the board of the multilateral fund. This reasoning, after years of negotiations at international conferences, convinced diplomats in 2023 to approve a special UN fund for “Loss and Damage.”
However, the program remains paralyzed due to resistance from developed countries over its funding.
Fund lacks sufficient financing
To date, the initiative has received only $820 million in financial pledges. The United States, historically the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, pledged $17.5 million to the fund under the presidency of Joe Biden, but later withdrew after Donald Trump returned to power.
The mechanism, which was preparing to make its first payouts, has already received requests from at least 119 countries totaling $2.8 billion, acknowledging the existence of “a significant funding shortfall.” “Currently, there is no fund capable of responding to a disaster of this magnitude,” warned Richard Sherman, South Africa’s representative on the board of directors. “The countries that caused climate change are not paying for its consequences.”
Sherman estimated that due to excessive global demand, the UN fund would be able to allocate Nepal only about $20 million. “This is nothing,” the expert noted, suggesting that the country would have to turn to the World Bank for loans.
Washington’s diplomatic demarche
The Trump administration not only withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement but also completed the country’s exit this year from the Green Climate Fund, established in 2010. “Our nation will no longer continue to fund radical organizations whose goals contradict the premise that accessible and reliable energy is fundamental to economic growth,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Meanwhile, in the Himalayan region, rapid warming is accelerating the melting of permafrost beneath glaciers. Although scientists clarify that climate change was not the sole cause of the disaster that led to thousands of deaths and missing persons, confidence in its role remains high in Nepal. In the government’s letter to the UN, it states that “early action in Nepal” would demonstrate the world’s ability to act with “humanity, speed and solidarity when vulnerable countries face losses that exceed their capacity to respond.”
According to Clarín
