Nepal requested $20 million from the UN climate fund after the flash flood disaster

In an interview with the Guardian on September 8, Nepal's Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal confirmed that the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Nepal sent a joint letter to the United Nations Loss and Damage Fund - an organization established in 2022 under the Paris Climate Agreement, to request $20 million in compensation for climate-related damages.

He emphasized that the amount of money Nepal requested from the United Nations "is clearly not enough to compensate for the losses we have suffered". According to some estimates, the total damage caused by floods could reach more than $5 billion, although Mr. Khanal said the actual figure could be even higher.

Foreign Minister Khanal called for climate justice and emphasized that it is imperative that the world's largest economies step in to help Nepal recover and rebuild after the devastating floods.

"We bear a very small part of the responsibility for climate change," he said. "Large economies that pollute a lot and produce huge amounts of greenhouse gas emissions in history are required to share responsibility. This problem affects all of humanity."

Nepal accounts for less than 0.1% of total global greenhouse gas emissions, while neighboring countries such as India and China are among the world's largest emitters. The Himalayas - which stretch across India, China, Nepal and Bhutan - are warming at a rate nearly 50% faster than the global average.

In 2023, the United Nations said Nepal's mountain massifs had lost nearly a third of their ice in just over 30 years due to global warming.

"The international community should not consider the recent flash flood as an isolated disaster. It must be seen in the context of the changing climate in the Himalayas," the Foreign Minister noted. "We fully understand that this will be a recurring scenario that more and more communities not only in Nepal but around the world will have to face."

Scientists believe the climate crisis played a role in the August 26 flash flood. The natural disaster originated from a melting glacier, triggering landslides and flash floods on the Nepal-China border, leaving more than 1,300 people dead and more than 5,500 missing. Hopes of finding survivors are fading after 12 days of rescue.

The United Nations says the Loss and Damage Fund is facing a "severe financial gap". The fund has received requests for support totaling 2.8 billion USD from about 119 countries, but so far the international community has only contributed about 400 million USD. The US contributed 17 million USD after President Donald Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement.

Mr Khanal admitted there were "political challenges" in helping Nepal receive the climate compensation it demands.

"Yes, there are always people who disagree with our perspective or deny the existence of climate change, but there are also people who deny that the Earth is spherical," he said.