The catastrophic flash floods that swept through Nepal and across the Himalayan border region have killed over 1,300 people and left more than 5,000 missing. Entire communities have been devastated, homes and livelihoods destroyed, and critical infrastructure damaged. The economic damage in Nepal alone is already estimated at around US$2.56 billion, while the costs of recovery and reconstruction could ultimately exceed US$5 billion.
Nepal has contributed negligibly to the historical accumulation of greenhouse gases—accounting for less than 0.1% of global emissions—yet its communities are increasingly exposed to severe climate-related risks across the rapidly warming Himalayan region. The victims of this disaster did not own fossil-fuel plants, did not carry out polluting wars of aggression, and did not order the plunder of other countries’ resources. Yet they are paying the price of a rapidly warming and increasingly unstable Himalayan environment.
Meanwhile, Global North governments responsible for the overwhelming share of historical emissions through fossil-fuel proliferation, colonial plunder, and highly carbon-intensive development have not been held adequately accountable for the loss and damage inflicted on countries and peoples that contributed least to the climate crisis. Justice for the Nepali people demands that Global North governments pay reparations for their climate debt.
A critical part of reparations is the delivery of Loss and Damage finance from the Global North to the Global South. The Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), established under the UN climate process, exists precisely because Global South countries face mounting losses and damages that mitigation and adaptation alone cannot address.
Yet nearly two weeks after the disaster, the FRLD has still not delivered finance to Nepal. Nepal has already called for the Fund’s Board to convene an emergency meeting and make a special decision to provide immediate support rather than requiring the country to wait for the Fund’s normal approval process. Nepal already has three earlier proposals in the FRLD pipeline, none of which has reached the approval stage. Every delay is another day that communities confronting catastrophic loss are left waiting while those most responsible for the climate crisis evade their obligations.
Beyond bureaucratic barriers and inefficiency, the deeper problem behind the FRLD’s inadequate response is Global North governments’ failure to adequately resource it. Pledges to the FRLD total only $826 million, of which only $478 million has been received. The amount of $370 million has been approved for the Barbados Implementation Modalities – the FRLD pilot program. Deducting the amounts allocated for administrative and operational expenses, only $65 million is available for other disbursements. The initial estimated cost of Nepal’s recovery and rebuilding is $4 to $5 billion dollars.
The Nepal disaster is a devastating demonstration of why the FRLD must be filled at scale with new, additional, predictable, and grant-based public finance from Global North governments. A fund designed to respond to Loss and Damage cannot function effectively if every major disaster forces vulnerable countries to compete against one another for a grossly inadequate pool of resources. Loss and Damage finance must reach affected countries and communities rapidly and at the scale required—not years after losses have already occurred.
Nepal does not lack the climate ambition needed to avert disasters. The country’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) integrates plans to reduce the risks of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF). Nepal’s national government worked with the UN Development Programme to apply for funding from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) for GLOF adaptation: a proposal that was only approved seven years after submission. The government also applied for technical assistance from the Santiago Network for Loss and Damage (SNLD) to develop GLOF risk management plans.
For decades, Global North governments have refused to cut emissions, increase their climate finance pledges to the trillions needed, and deliver on their existing climate finance commitments. It is Global North governments that lack the necessary ambition to prevent disasters of this magnitude.
The flash floods in Nepal have not washed away our calls for climate justice and reparations.
FRLD, stop the delay of climate finance delivery!
Global North governments, reparations for Nepal now!