WASHINGTON: The UN's climate loss and damage fund moved Thursday to provide US$20 million in aid sought by flood-stricken Nepal, the first time it has set aside money for any country, in a key test of the body's credibility.
In the first extraordinary meeting since its launch in 2022, the fund's board agreed to earmark the modest sum for the Himalayan country, which was hit in August by tsunami-like floods triggered by a climate-induced ice and rock avalanche that killed more than 1,400 people and left over 5,000 missing.
"Hearing no objections, the decision is so adopted," Camila Minerva Rodriguez Tavarez, co-chair of the board, said following a virtual meeting.
The decision does not, however, mean that Nepal will immediately receive the funding, which amounts to less than 0.5% of the government's US$4.78 billion estimate for reconstruction.
Twenty million dollars is the maximum amount countries can request in a single application.
Nepal will first have to present a proposal, and that proposal will have to be approved by the fund's board. There is no firm timeline for the process.
The creation of the "Fund for responding to Loss and Damage" was hard-won by developing countries and greeted with standing ovations at the UN climate conferences of 2022 and 2023 (COP27 and COP28).
But since it became operational, critics have faulted both the meager pledges from governments – US$822 million to date – and a disbursement cycle disconnected from climate disasters.
No money has been disbursed so far.