Nepal Demands Climate Justice for Himalayas at COP31

Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal led a high-level Nepali delegation to the 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) in Antalya, Turkey, to advocate for the Himalayan region. Accompanied by Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle and other officials, Khanal urged the international community to prioritize mountain-specific measures, including a dedicated action plan for mountains and the integration of mountain-specific indicators into global climate finance frameworks.

During the opening plenary, Khanal demanded "climate justice," arguing that Nepal suffers disproportionately from global warming despite contributing negligibly to emissions. He specifically called for a 1.5 degrees Celsius temperature limit for the Himalayas to combat accelerated glacier melt. To support these demands, Khanal cited the August 26 "Himalayan Tsunami," an avalanche-induced dam burst that killed over 1,400 people and left 5,000 missing. While the World Bank estimated property damage at 1.66 billion US dollars, the Nepali government estimated recovery needs exceed 4.77 billion US dollars.

Collaborating with Bhutan and Kyrgyzstan, Nepal pushed to make mountains and climate change a formal agenda item at the summit. Khanal called for the international community to translate sympathy for Nepal's recent disasters into tangible systems and concrete implementation of financial commitments.