Flood-ravaged Nepal pushes for climate deal with India, China
PM Shah’s proposal aims to address gaps in data-sharing that left mountain communities with virtually no early warning before the disaster hit
“Glaciers and floods do not travel with stamps and passports,” Shah told world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. “As an urgent first step, we propose that we establish the Himalaya climate resilience mechanism, led by Nepal, India and China, so the Himalayas become a laboratory of international cooperation rather than a frontier of fragmented information.”
An international study found the catastrophe was primed by a complex web of climate and seismic factors, including record summer heat and thawing permafrost. Shah said that recovery efforts would cost roughly 10 per cent of Nepal’s gross domestic product.