Nepal PM Balendra Shah will press for climate support at the UN General Assembly this week, as flood survivors look to him to make their climate-justice case. The August 26 disaster killed more than 1,400 people and left over 6,000 missing in Nepal and China's Tibet region.
Scientists from World Weather Attribution said climate change was a key driver of the floods, describing them as a “compound crisis” involving long-term warming, glacier retreat, permafrost thaw and geological instability—not a single extreme weather event. Nepal estimates reconstruction could cost $4.78 billion and must also decide how to resettle thousands displaced and reconsider infrastructure projects, including hydropower plants and trade corridors in fragile mountain terrain.
Nepal is seeking climate finance and compensation from wealthy countries. Countries agreed in 2025 to create a “loss and damage” fund to help vulnerable states cope with climate impacts, but payments have yet to begin. Nepal contributes only a tiny share of greenhouse-gas emissions; glaciers across the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region supply water to about 240 million people in the mountains and 1.65 billion downstream across South and Southeast Asia.
