Kathmandu, Sep 26 Nepal Prime Minister Balendra Shah on Saturday returned home after attending the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, where he called for climate justice to be put into practice.
Shah addressed the General Debate of the UNGA in New York on September 24. The main theme of the General Assembly was “Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations that Delivers for All.”
During his address, Shah drew the international community’s attention to last month’s devastating Bhotekoshi floods, which resulted in huge damage to life, property and infrastructure in central Nepal.
According to a press release issued by the Foreign Ministry, Shah pointed out that although Nepal contributes a negligible 0.1 per cent to greenhouse gas emissions, it is at the forefront of the climate crisis.
He also drew the global community’s attention to the impacts of climate change on the Himalayan ecosystem and the risk of floods and landslides in downstream areas caused by ice-rock avalanches due to melting permafrost.
Shah also called on the international community to put climate justice into practice to address the crisis facing the Himalayan countries like Nepal. He also urged countries making significant contributions to climate change and those with abundant resources and capabilities to shoulder more responsibility to address the crisis.
He underscored the need for international cooperation and fund mobilisation for post-disaster responses such as rehabilitation and reconstruction. He also underlined the need to simplify the process of resource mobilisation from the Loss and Damage Fund and other existing climate finance mechanisms.
The August 26 flash floods originating near the Nepal-Tibet border devastated towns and villages in northern and central Nepal.
The Bhotekoshi River, which flows south from the Himalayan border region, carried the floodwaters downstream, sweeping away homes, vehicles, roads and bridges and damaging hydropower projects.
At least 1,453 people were killed and 5,285 remain unaccounted for a month after the Bhotekoshi floods, according to Nepalese authorities.
The disaster also killed 43 people in Tibet, while more than 500 still remain unaccounted for, according to Chinese media.
(PTI News)
