Nepal’s catastrophic flooding last month “was a warning to the world” about the rising dangers of climate change, Prime Minister Balendra Shah told the United Nations on Thursday, urging countries to step up to help his country adapt.
“Nepal contributes less than 0.1 percent of global greenhouse gas emission .
Addressing the General Assembly in sunglasses during its high-level week, Shah said a warming climate was “destabilizing the fragile Himalayan ecology,” melting permafrost and glaciers and accelerating hazards. We did not create this crisis, yet we are paying for it,” he said.
Nepal has asked the UN’s Loss and Damage fund for $20 million in aid , the maximum allowed, but a tiny fraction of what it needs — a preliminary assessment by the government has placed the cost of the disaster at $5 billion. Nepal’s foreign minister Shisir Khanal told AFP that the G7 informally promised support at a meeting on Wednesday, and Britain has also vowed to help.
