Nepal to use new flood study to claim millions from UN climate disaster fund — SkimNews
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- Nepal plans to request approximately $20m from the UN Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, using a new World Weather Attribution study as the primary evidence, according to the country's Ministry of Agriculture spokesperson Maheshwar Dhakal.
- World Weather Attribution found climate change was a likely contributing factor in the rock and ice collapse at Langtang Lirung mountain, with July-August temperatures in the region about 1.5C warmer 'due to human influence' and regional glaciers thinning by roughly half a metre per year.
- The disaster killed approximately 1,400 people and left 6,150 missing as of the article's date, destroying thousands of houses and energy infrastructure across the Nepal-Tibet border.
- Nepal's leaders have said the country needs approximately $5bn for reconstruction, while PM Balendra Shah is set to address the UN General Assembly next week on climate justice.
- The UN fund has just under $400m allotted for disbursement, but nearly 120 countries have already submitted claims totaling nearly $3bn, with fund officials scheduled to meet in December to decide which requests to accept.
- Co-author Dr Friederike Otto of Imperial College London said there was 'absolutely no doubt that human-induced climate change played a role here in the preconditioning of the disaster,' while the study noted a 2015 magnitude 7.8 earthquake may have weakened the underlying rock mass.
Why it matters: The fund holds under $400m against nearly $3bn in global claims — Nepal's modest $20m ask is small compared to its $5bn reconstruction need, but the attribution study establishes the evidentiary template other vulnerable Himalayan and low-emitting nations will copy. The December fund meeting will test whether the 'polluter-pays' framing Nepal is pushing survives against competing claimants.
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