Foreign aid is Nepal's 'moral liability' not charity, says govt

Nepal has launched a diplomatic push to seek climate-related compensation from greenhouse gas emitters for the devastation caused due to the recent deadly flash floods. Nepal’s foreign minister Shisir Khanal asserted that post-disaster assistance should be treated as a matter of "moral liability", "not charity".

Khanal said, "We are paying the ultimate price for a global crisis we did not create. The rapid melting of glaciers and these catastrophic mountain tsunamis are direct consequences of global climate change," he said in an interview with Kantipur TV, the excerpts of which were published by The Kathmandu Post on Tuesday, 1 September.

The minister identified China, the US and India as the world's three largest greenhouse gas emitters and said they have a "historical responsibility to compensate vulnerable nations like Nepal".

Nepal is shifting its diplomatic framework from “aid” to “justice and compensation”, he said.

Khanal said Nepal would raise the issue "with absolute firmness and clarity" at international fora and seek compensation from major emitters for climate-related losses suffered by vulnerable countries.

"This is a matter of civilisational survival. If our Himalayan glaciers disappear, the water security of over two billion people in South Asia dependent on rivers like the Ganges and the Trishuli will be permanently compromised. We are advocating not just for Nepal, but for the survival of South Asian civilisation," he said.

Nepal has formally approached the board of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, seeking urgent financial assistance following the flash flood in the Bhotekoshi river basin on 26 August, according to the newspaper report.

A letter jointly signed by Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle and Forests and Agriculture Minister Geeta Chaudhary sought an urgent response to the catastrophic floods which have caused widespread loss of life, displacement and destruction of homes and critical infrastructure.

Maheshwar Dhakal, joint secretary at the Ministry of Forests and a member of the Loss and Damage Fund's board, said this was the first time Nepal had sought assistance from the mechanism.

The scale of damage caused by the flood, and the search, rescue, relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction required in its aftermath, has become a major challenge for Nepal, he said.

The letter said the Bhotekoshi disaster demonstrates how extreme events in the cryosphere can rapidly cascade from high mountains to densely populated downstream areas, undermining development gains and affecting water, food, energy, health, infrastructure, ecosystems and human security.

The Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage was established at the UN climate conference, COP27, in Egypt in 2022 to assist developing countries particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. Its funding arrangements were further advanced, and the fund was operationalised at COP28 in Dubai in 2023.

(With agency inputs)