Why Nepal Must Demand Climate Reparations

When the sky breaks over Nepal’s fragile Himalayan terrain, the destruction does not stop at remote mountain villages. Recent mudslides and floods have buried families, swept through settlements, damaged major hydropower projects and severed highways vital to the national economy.

As search operations give way to the quieter despair of displacement, the article argues that humanitarian charity is not enough. Nepal’s recurring disasters are presented not as isolated acts of nature, but as measurable consequences of a warming planet shaped by fossil-fuel consumption in wealthy industrial countries.

Nepal contributes only 0.025 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and has one of the world’s lowest per-capita carbon footprints. Yet its communities face severe damage from floods, landslides and the rapid deterioration of the Himalayas. The country’s rural population largely follows low-impact diets, while its rivers produce hydropower.

Former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal highlighted the imbalance during the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 21, 2023. He said Nepal was being punished for a crime it did not commit and warned that the Himalayas were melting faster than expected, despite their role in regulating the Earth’s temperature.

The article also points to the wider regional stakes. Himalayan peaks act as natural water towers for nearly 1.4 billion people in South Asia, but melting ice, thawing permafrost and weakening mountain slopes are placing those systems under strain. It concludes that the Global North should recognize its historical ecological debts and provide Nepal with reparations for climate-related loss and damage.

“

Nepal is bearing a punishment for a crime that it did not commit.