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🇸🇬 Singapore /Environment & Climate

Nepal’s request for flood compensation tests new climate aid system

From The Straits Times · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

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  • Nepal has asked a new United Nations fund for immediate support after catastrophic flooding killed 1,250 people, with recovery and rebuilding costs expected to reach at least US$5 billion.
  • The country has not yet quantified its losses or specified the amount requested, while the precise role of climate change in the Aug. 26 disaster remains uncertain.
  • The fund has received about US$485 million in paid contributions and has allocated no money to date, raising questions about whether it can respond quickly and at sufficient scale.

Nepal is asking a new and largely untested United Nations fund to help pay for recovery after catastrophic flooding killed 1,250 people. The country expects rebuilding to cost at least US$5 billion, a huge burden for one of Asia's poorest nations.

On Sept. 1, Nepal sent a letter to the co-chairs of the fund for responding to Loss and Damage, seeking immediate support. Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal said the international community's promises "must move from commitments on paper to concrete action on the ground." The letter did not quantify the losses or say how much Nepal wanted.

The fund emerged from the 2022 climate talks in Sharm El-Sheikh. It was created to help developing countries address the worst effects of global warming, reflecting the disparity between wealthy countries that produced much of the historic fossil-fuel emissions and poorer countries that face severe impacts despite contributing less.

must move from commitments on paper to concrete action on the ground

· Shisir KhanalNepal's foreign minister described the urgency of its request for international climate-related support.

The precise role of climate change in Nepal's Aug. 26 disaster has not been fully established. But the Himalayas are highly vulnerable as permafrost and glaciers thaw, making rock, soil and ice unstable. Climate-linked disasters, including glacial-lake floods, have become more frequent in recent decades. Members of the fund's board said in an open letter that the Nepal disaster was "precisely the kind of climate-related extreme weather events the fund was established to address" and called for an extraordinary meeting to consider the case.

The fund's limited resources and capacity are causing concern among climate advocacy groups. Fully established in 2024, it closed its first funding round in June and is not scheduled to meet again until December. It has received pledges of more than US$822 million from 27 countries and other partners, but paid contributions total about US$485 million. Before Nepal's crisis, countries had submitted 176 eligible requests worth US$2.8 billion, and no funds had been allocated.

precisely the kind of climate-related extreme weather events the fund was established to address

· Members and alternate members of the fund's boardBoard members urged an extraordinary meeting to evaluate Nepal's case.
About this summary

Originally published by The Straits Times in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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