EDITOR’S NOTE: Nepal Prime Minister Balendra Shah addressed the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly following the devastating Bhotekoshi-Trishuli floods that struck Nepal’s mountain communities weeks earlier. In his address, he called on the international community to recognize the disaster as a warning about the climate crisis, and urged reform of global systems of finance, trade, and cooperation to ensure genuine climate justice for vulnerable nations like Nepal.
TRANSCRIPT:
A Warning From the Himalayas
BALENDRA SHAH: Mr. President, Mr. Secretary-General, excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, I come before you from Nepal, a distant country in the Himalayas, carrying a close warning for humanity. I wish I could stand here today simply to talk about development, democracy, peace, and the hopes of a new young nation. Instead, I must speak about death and destruction of epic proportion, about families waiting for loved ones who will never come home, about communities searching through the mud, rocks, and water for people whose bodies may never be recovered, about bridges, about roads, schools, homes, and livelihoods swept away in minutes. About a country whose steady progress to achieve Sustainable Development Goals has been interrupted. Four weeks ago, the world saw shocking images of catastrophic flash floods that swept away Nepal’s mountain communities with ferocity many have called a “mountain tsunami” or “Himalayan tsunami.”
The Bhotekoshi-Trishuli disaster was not just a local tragedy. It was a warning to the world, and I ask you today, “have you really heard that warning?” Nearly three years ago, standing in the shadow of Mount Everest, the Secretary-General of the United Nations warned humanity about the madness of impending climate disaster. That cry from the rooftop of the world was not heard loudly enough. We in Nepal heard it.
Our communities heard it. Scientists around the world heard it. They repeated it with evidence. But we, the political leaders, have been negligent in translating those warnings into action at the speed and scale that vulnerable people require. Last month, we saw the tragic consequences: a warming climate that is destabilizing the fragile Himalayan ecology, melting permafrost that is fracturing mountain slopes beneath the glaciers, and accelerating the risk of ice-rock avalanches, floods, landslides, and other cascading hazards.
The resulting devastation unleashed havoc on both sides of Nepal’s border. The flood continued downstream into India. This tells us something fundamental. Climate change does not recognize borders. Glaciers and floods do not travel with stamps and passports.
Gratitude and the Scale of Recovery
Excellencies, I am not here to complain, but to share some suggestions. First, I wish to express Nepal’s deep gratitude to all those who came to our aid in the aftermath of the deluge. Our immediate neighbors, India and China, offered prompt and generous assistance. Other friendly countries, the United Nations system, humanitarian agencies, philanthropies, and people around the world stood with Nepal. To all of them, I say thank you on behalf of the grateful people of Nepal.
Nepal now faces a massive task of recovery and reconstruction. After at least fourteen hundred deaths and over sixty-six thousand people still missing, a rapid assessment pegs physical recovery needs at about 10% of GDP. As in rebuilding after the 2015 Gorkha earthquake, we count on your solidarity and support. But we must also understand why this disaster matters beyond Nepal. Nepal contributes less than 0.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
We did not create this crisis, yet we are paying a colossal price for it. Our 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. For Nepal, climate catastrophe is not just a humanitarian event, but a development emergency.
It destroys roads, bridges, schools, homes, farms, and livelihoods. It destroys clean energy infrastructure that we need to fuel our future, and it forces a poor country to borrow money to repair damage it did not cause. But we are not here to blame any country or continent. We are not here to turn climate change into another geopolitical battlefield. We are here to ask everyone to recommit to shared responsibility and solidarity.
Climate Justice, Not Charity
Through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the international community has already agreed to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. Those who have historically contributed more to the problem and those with greater capacity to respond must do more. Climate justice cannot remain a beautiful phrase in a United Nations document. People of our country must be allowed to build their future instead of constantly rebuilding their past. Excellencies, the Hindu Kush Himalaya is home to nearly 2 billion people.
These mountains provide water, ecosystems, agriculture, and livelihoods to populations far beyond Nepal. The Himalayas are not peripheral to the planet. They are part of the planet’s life support system. That is why, as an urgent first step, we propose that we establish a Himalayan Climate Resilience Mechanism led by Nepal, India, and China. Through this mechanism, let us share satellite data and expertise.
Let us monitor dangerous glacial lakes. Let us strengthen joint early warning systems. And when disaster strikes, let us coordinate assistance across borders. Let the Himalayas become a laboratory of international cooperation rather than a frontier of fragmented information. Remarkable for a least developed country, Nepal is already playing a global role exceeding its ecological share.
We have restored forest cover on nearly half of our territory. We are installing hydropower at a pace enough to power all our clean energy needs and displace dirty sources abroad. We are promoting electric mobility with an adoption rate to match parts of Europe. We are strengthening climate adaptation at the local level, and we shall do more to withstand the increasing intensity and frequency of climate disasters. But Nepal cannot build resilience alone against a crisis made worse by the failure of global governance.
Relief, Rehabilitation, Reconstruction — and Responsibility, Reparation, Resilience
This is why this assembly must note six words: “relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction,” and also “responsibility, reparation, resilience.” The first three are what we need after a disaster.