Nepal demands $20m climate compensation after devastating floods

Nepal has formally requested $20m in climate compensation from the United Nations' loss and damage fund following catastrophic flooding in late August. The disaster was triggered when a melting glacier partially collapsed, unleashing a landslide and flash floods across Chinese-controlled Tibet and Nepal. More than 1,300 deaths have been confirmed, while over 5,500 people remain missing, with hope of finding survivors fading after 12 days of rescue efforts.

Foreign minister Shisir Khanal told the Guardian that the world's largest economies must accept shared responsibility, noting Nepal contributes less than 0.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions while neighbours India and China rank among the biggest emitters. The Himalayas are warming almost 50% faster than the global average, and the UN reported in 2023 that Nepal's mountains had lost nearly a third of their ice over just 30 years.

Damage compared to 2015 earthquake

Khanal described the event as feeling like a tsunami surging down from the Himalayas, with waves reaching 60-70 feet and travelling at roughly 180km/h, carrying debris, mud and rock that wiped out towns, villages and highways. He said the scale of destruction was comparable to the devastating 2015 earthquake. Estimates put total damage above $5bn, though Khanal suggested the real figure could be higher. More than 20,000 homes and the country's main highway will likely need rebuilding, and some riverside villages may need to relocate to safer ground.

Khanal acknowledged the requested sum falls far short of covering the damage but said it was intended as a wake-up call for the international community to build a more robust support mechanism for vulnerable economies. The UN fund already faces a significant financing gap, having received requests totalling $2.8bn from around 119 countries but distributed only about $400m so far. The US has contributed just $17m since withdrawing from the Paris agreement.

He also pushed back on claims that China failed to adequately warn Nepal, saying that before the collapse, neither Nepali nor Chinese scientists realised the glacier posed an imminent threat.