Young Nepalis battle climate dread in wake of flood disaster

Alina B.K. should have been preparing for her end-of-year university exams, but news of devastating floods along the Nepal–Tibet border kept pulling her back to a troubling question: what kind of future awaits her?

The 21-year-old forestry student, who coordinates the Pokhara network of Nepalese Youth for Climate Action, said she struggled to concentrate as reports of death and destruction deepened her fears about a changing climate.

“With the floods and deaths happening around us, it is really hard not to feel anxious and emotionally overwhelmed,” she said.

The August 26 disaster, triggered by a glacier collapse, has left more than 1,400 people confirmed dead across Nepal and Tibet, with thousands still missing.