KATMANDU: Nepal’s devastating floods should be a turning point for global climate action, with the international community helping the Himalayan nation recover, a top UN official told AFP on Saturday.
The country suffered one of the worst disasters in its history on August 26, when a mountain collapse near the China border triggered catastrophic floods that killed more than 1,400 people and left over 5,000 missing.
Scientists said climate change played a significant role in that disaster.
Jorge Moreira da Silva, executive director of the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), which implements humanitarian and development projects, said he had witnessed “massive devastation” during a visit to affected communities.
Nepal, a largely rural country of 30 million people that contributes little to global greenhouse gas emissions, estimates reconstruction will cost $4.78 billion.
“This is a defining moment not only for Nepal, this is a defining moment for the international community,” Moreira da Silva told AFP in Katmandu.
“It’s not fair to ask a country that emits almost nothing of CO2 to suddenly pay alone the consequence of something that was not generated by the country,” he added.
“That’s why it’s fundamental that global solidarity is brought to this equation.”
- ‘Climate justice’ -
Moreira da Silva said reconstruction and resettlement must account for future climate risks, while the international community must “renew its commitment to climate.”
“It’s also about climate justice and climate responsibility,” he said, warning that low-emitting countries would continue to bear the brunt of climate change.
“This is going to happen unless those countries that emit the most... change their pathway,” he said.
Moreira da Silva said Nepal was rebuilding as global disruptions threatened food security. He also leads the UN task force for the Strait of Hormuz.
“The simultaneous disruption of the three maritime shock points... the Strait of Hormuz, in the Black Sea and in the Red Sea, poses a significant challenge, particularly on food security,” he said.
The UN and its humanitarian partners launched a $49.6 million appeal last month to provide emergency assistance to flood victims.
Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah told the United Nations last month that the flooding “was a warning to the world” about the growing dangers of climate change.