Nepal Seeks $20 Million in Climate Funding After Deadly Himalayan Floods

Nepal plans to use new research linking last month’s deadly floods to human-induced climate change as the basis for a funding request to the United Nations Loss and Damage Response Fund.

The BBC understands that Nepal wants to claim around $20 million (£15 million) from the fund, which supports countries affected by climate change.

As of Wednesday, about 1,400 people had died and 6,150 were missing, according to official data.

Study links climate change to rock and ice avalanches

A study published on Thursday by the research group World Weather Attribution says climate change likely contributed to the rock and ice avalanches that caused devastating flooding along the Nepal-Tibet border last month.

“There is absolutely no doubt that human-induced climate change has played a role in preconditioning disasters,” said study co-author Dr Friederike Otto, a climatologist at Imperial College London.

Massive floods and landslides hit towns and villages on the Nepal-Tibet border, destroying thousands of homes and energy infrastructure and leaving thousands of people dead or missing.

Scientists say the flooding was caused by the collapse of rock walls and glacier ice near the top of Langtang Lirung, a mountain on the Nepali side of the Himalayas.

The study described the disaster as a “complex phenomenon” caused by rising temperatures, thinning glaciers, thawing permafrost and existing geological vulnerabilities.

Temperatures in the region were about 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer in July and August “due to human climate impacts,” the study said.

Glaciers in the region are also thinning by about 0.5 meters (1.6 feet) each year. This could weaken existing fractures and increase instability.

Heavy snowfall in October and November last year also added large amounts of snowmelt water earlier this year.

Climate change was not the sole cause of the disaster, but it was a “destabilizing factor acting on existing geological predispositions,” the study said.

Nepal prepares claim for UN Loss and Damage Fund

In the wake of the floods, Nepal’s leaders have said the country needs around $5 billion (£3.7 billion) to rebuild.

Launched last year, the United Nations Loss and Damage Response Fund requires countries to provide evidence showing that the losses they have suffered were caused by climate change.

Nepali authorities had prepared satellite and drone images, as well as a preliminary report, to support their request to the fund.

Officials now say the World Weather Attribution report is the strongest evidence supporting their claim that climate change was a key factor in the collapse of rock and ice at Langtang Lirung.

Maheshwar Dhakal, spokesperson for Nepal’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Environment, said the report “will be the main basis for our claim as it details how climate played a role in this disaster.”