{"id":356536,"date":"2026-09-25T09:00:33","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T09:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/356536\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T09:00:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T09:00:33","slug":"nepals-leader-labels-devastating-flood-a-warning-to-the-world-climate-crisis-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/356536\/","title":{"rendered":"Nepal\u2019s leader labels devastating flood a \u2018warning to the world\u2019 | Climate Crisis News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Balendra Shah told the UN that world leaders must act on climate change.<\/p>\n

Published On 25 Sep 202625 Sep 2026<\/p>\n

Nepal\u2019s Prime Minister Balendra Shah has appealed for action to combat the rising threat of climate change, calling the flood that devastated his country last month \u201ca warning to the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

Shah made the comments during his address to the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday night. He told the gathering that the August disaster \u201cwas not just a local tragedy\u201d, asking them the question, \u201cHave you really heard that warning?\u201d<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

Political leaders \u201chave been negligent to translate those warnings in action at the speed and scale that the vulnerable people require,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"AnAn excavator clears mud from damaged houses following deadly flash floods and a mudslide, in Nuwakot district, Nepal, on September 21, 2026 [Navesh Chitrakar\/Reuters]<\/p>\n

At least 1,453 people died when a torrent of mud, rock and water struck northern Nepal and the China-Tibet border on August 26, triggered by a glacial collapse.<\/p>\n

According to Nepal\u2019s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, 5,500 people were still missing and 13,795 had been rescued.<\/p>\n

Researchers from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group said in a report<\/a> released last week that the disaster was not caused by a single extreme weather event, but rather a \u201ccompound crisis\u201d shaped by long-term warming, glacier retreat, permafrost thaw and geological instability.<\/p>\n

Shah said climate change was hurting people not responsible for the crisis but who \u201care paying a colossal price for it\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said Nepal contributed less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the heat-trapping gases behind climate change. About 99 percent of the country\u2019s electricity comes from hydropower, and many workers were trapped in tunnels by the flooding.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur glaciers are retreating, our mountain slopes are becoming unstable, our rivers are becoming less predictable, and every major disaster threatens to erase years of development,\u201d Shah said.<\/p>\n

\"NepalNepal Prime Minister Balendra Shah addresses the 81st United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City, US, on September 24, 2026 [Eduardo Munoz\/Reuters]<\/p>\n

Shah urged the international community to help bear the cost of helping Nepal adapt to climate change.<\/p>\n

He proposed to create a \u2018Himalaya Climate Resilience Mechanism\u2019 which would include Nepal and neighbours India and China, and would allow them to share satellite data and expertise, monitor glacial lakes and strengthen joint early warning systems.<\/p>\n

Nepal has asked the UN\u2019s loss and damage fund for $20m 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 $5bn.<\/p>\n

The fund, established in 2022 in the aftermath of catastrophic floods in Pakistan, has yet to make even its first disbursement, and observers see Nepal as a key test of its credibility.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, the United States pledged an additional $31m in new flood recovery support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Minister Balendra Shah told the UN that world leaders must act on climate change. Published On 25…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[7724,11420,827,29158,3242,900,2101,85781,9,24,55,54,12,56,4838,2271,901,2272],"class_list":["post-356536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-asia","tag-asia-pacific","tag-china","tag-climate-crisis","tag-environment","tag-floods","tag-india","tag-nepal","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-news","tag-ny","tag-sustainability","tag-united-nations","tag-united-states","tag-us-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}