Nepal’s leader labels devastating flood a ‘warning to the world’
Sept 25,2026: Nepal’s 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 “a warning to the world”.
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 “was not just a local tragedy”, asking them the question, “Have you really heard that warning?”
Political leaders “have been negligent to translate those warnings in action at the speed and scale that the vulnerable people require,” he said.
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.
According to Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, 5,500 people were still missing and 13,795 had been rescued.
Researchers from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group said in a report released last week that the disaster was not caused by a single extreme weather event, but rather a “compound crisis” shaped by long-term warming, glacier retreat, permafrost thaw and geological instability.
Shah said climate change was hurting people not responsible for the crisis but who “are paying a colossal price for it”.
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’s electricity comes from hydropower, and many workers were trapped in tunnels by the flooding.
“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,” Shah said.
Shah urged the international community to help bear the cost of helping Nepal adapt to climate change.
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He proposed to create a ‘Himalaya Climate Resilience Mechanism’ 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.
Nepal has asked the UN’s 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.
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.
Earlier this week, the United States pledged an additional $31m in new flood recovery support.
New Delhi, May 24 : The National Green Tribunal has directed the Uttarakhand government to submit within four weeks percentage-wise compliance report on steps taken by it to clean the River Ganga in the stretch between Gomukh and Haridwar.
A bench headed by acting NGT Chairperson Justice Jawad Rahim asked the state government to make a categoric statement about the stage of compliance rather than indicating what work was under progress.
The green panel has directed the state government to file the report of compliance by July 19.
“On behalf of State of Uttarakhand it is submitted that the compliance report filed by them indicates substantial compliance, however it is pointed out by the counsel Vijay Hansaria that various directions of the Tribunal are yet to be complied with in totality.
“The counsel on behalf of State of Uttarakhand, submits they require four weeks time to compile all the information and file to the satisfactory of the Tribunal. We accept his request and grant them time till July 19, 2018 for filing the report of compliance after serving copy in advance of 10 days to the counsel M C Mehta for examining it and file their response by the next date of hearing.
During the hearing, advocate Mehta, who has filed the plea for Ganga rejuvenation, pointed out that only one officer, S D Singh was deposing in all the affidavits whereas the directions refers to several other departments of the government.
He contended that in case of any default, appropriate action in accordance with law has to be taken and therefore one person deposing affidavits in respect of all other departments is “not in the real spirit of the directions of the tribunal”.
The Uttarakhand government, however, submitted that Singh was appointed as nodal officer and the State will be bound by his statement.
Noting the submissions, the tribunal said,” submissions taken on record and we make it clear that in case of any default the affidavit filed by the said officer shall be construed as the affidavit filed by the secretary of the state concerned. He will be exposed to all actions in person.”
The NGT had earlier rapped the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) for not filing compliance report on the steps taken by the Centre and the UP and Uttarakhand governments to clean the river Ganga in the stretch between Gomukh and Unnao.
The green panel, in a detailed judgement, had passed a slew of directions to rejuvenate Ganga, declaring as ‘No Development Zone’ an area of 100 metres from the edge of the river between Haridwar and Unnao and prohibiting dumping of waste within 500 metres from the river.
The tribunal had said the government has spent over Rs 7,000 crore in two years to clean the Ganga which still remains a “serious environmental issue”.
The order, running into 543 pages, had said “till the demarcation of floodplains and identification of permissible and non-permissible activities by the state government of this judgement, we direct that 100 metres from the edge of the river would be treated as no development/construction zone between Haridwar to Unnao in UP.”
‘No-development zones’ are areas where no construction including commercial or residential buildings can come up.
It also imposed a complete prohibition on disposal of municipal solid waste, e-waste or bio-medical waste on the floodplains or into the river and its tributaries.
Regarding shifting of tanneries located in Jajmau cluster in Kanpur, the tribunal had sought an action plan from the leather units, failing which “the UP government shall be duty bound to close the tanneries and shift the same to Banthar, Unnao or any other developed site which it considers appropriate.”
The tribunal reiterated its earlier order of ban on mechanical mining in Ganga and said “no in-stream mechanical mining is permitted and even the mining on the floodplain should be semi-mechanical and preferably more manual” .