Nepal says big polluters must ‘wake up’ as it calls for climate compensation over flood disaster

Nepal is demanding $20m in climate compensation for the recent devastating floods, as a senior minister called on the world’s most polluting countries to “wake up” and accept shared responsibility for a disaster that led to the death or disappearance of more than 6,000 people.Scientists believe the climate crisis had a role to play in the floods, which were triggered when a melting glacier partially collapsed and set off a deadly landslide and flash flooding through Chinese-controlled Tibet and Nepal in late August. So far, more than 1,300 are confirmed dead and more than 5,500 still missing, with hopes of their survival diminished after 12 days of rescue operations.Speaking to The Guardian, Nepal’s foreign minister, Shisir Khanal, was forthright in his call for climate justice and said it was imperative the world’s biggest economies stepped up to help Nepal recover and rebuild after the catastrophic floods.Nepal contributes less than 0.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, while its neighbours India and China are among the world’s biggest emitters. The mountains of the Himalayas – which span across India, China, Nepal and Bhutan – have been warming at a rate nearly 50% faster than the global average.In 2023, the UN said Nepal’s mountains had lost close to a third of their ice in just over 30 years due to global heating.Khanal emphasised that the recent disaster was far more extreme than any flooding regularly seen during the monsoon season, and said the magnitude of damage was on par with the 2015 earthquake that left much of the country in ruins.An excavator repairs a damaged road in Nepal near the Trishuli River on Monday. Photograph: Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters“This felt like a tsunami that was coming from the Himalayas,” he said. “We experienced waves as high as 60, 70 feet, which were mixed with debris, mud, stones, rocks, and came at the speed of almost 180km per hour. Towns, villages and highways were completely wiped out and there are some areas still disconnected.”Khanal confirmed that Nepal’s ministry of finance and ministry of environment had written a joint letter to the UN’s fund for responding to loss and damage – which was set up in 2022 in line with the Paris climate agreement – to request $20m in climate-related damages.“We have contributed so little to Climate Change,” he said. “It is imperative for those in the global community who benefit from larger, much more polluting economies, and whose historical contribution to greenhouse gases is much bigger than ours, to accept a shared responsibility. This affects all of humanity.”For Nepal, the disaster was particularly worrying because it was “one of the strongest warning signals that we’ve experienced of what’s to come”, he said.“The global community should not see this as one-off disaster; it should be viewed in the context of the changing climate in the Himalayas,” he said. “We know it is going to be a recurring scenario that more and more communities, not just in Nepal but around the world, will have to face.”Khanal acknowledged that the compensation amount Nepal has requested from the UN was “obviously not nearly enough to cover the damage that we have sustained”. According to some estimates, the total damage caused by the floods will be upwards of $5bn, though Khanal said it could be even higher.Upwards of 20,000 homes will probably have to be rebuilt, as well as the main highway. Villages built in vulnerable areas along the river, some of which washed away entirely, may have to be relocated to higher, safer ground.While Khanal initially singled out India and China as countries that should step in to help – while avoiding mention of the US, which is the world’s biggest polluter – he rowed back on those comments, saying: “It is not just about shifting the blame to one or the other country, it’s about us all working together.”Damaged buildings on the banks of the Trishuli River. Photograph: Anushree Fadnavis/ReutersHe emphasised that the compensation demand was also meant to act as a “wake-up call for the global community to establish a more robust mechanism to help vulnerable and small economies like Nepal”.The UN has admitted the loss and damage fund is already facing a “significant financing gap”. The fund has already received requests totalling $2.8bn from about 119 countries, but so far only around $400m has been given by the international community. The US has given just $17m, after Donald Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement.Khanal acknowledged there were “political challenges” in getting Nepal the climate compensation it was demanding.“Yes there always will be people who may not agree to our perspective or deny there is Climate Change, but there are also people who deny that the Earth is round,” he said bluntly.He emphasised the importance of funds being made available not just for immediate disaster response but also for preparedness and mitigation for climate-related risk.Khanal rebuffed allegations that China had failed to give an adequate warning or share data with Nepal about the impending floods. He said he was in discussion with China about enhancing coordination and data sharing for the Himalayan region.“With the benefit of hindsight, we can now see that this glacier was fragile and had been receding in the past six months,” he said.“But before the floods hit, there was no knowledge on our part, or on the part of Chinese scientists, that this particular collapse was imminent. I do not believe any of us had any idea of the threat until it happened.”