Nepal’s PM heads to UN to hold emitters responsible for climate disasters

Grieving family members mourn near a cremation ground in Kathmandu, Nepal, following severe climate-induced flash floods and landslides on Sept. 18, 2026. (EPA/Yonhap)

Nepal has established an environment diplomacy division under its Foreign Ministry as it steps up efforts to address climate change, which is a major factor behind a series of disastrous landslides and floods it has experienced. Prime Minister Balendra Shah is set to visit New York to attend the UN General Assembly.

In a statement reported by Xinhua on Sunday, Nepal’s Foreign Ministry said it had decided to create the division “in view of the growing impacts of climate change and the need to address emerging challenges through a dedicated institutional mechanism.”

The ministry said that while it has regularly participated in international forums on climate change, the new division would pursue those efforts in a more systematic and institutional manner.

A person carries a child under an umbrella near makeshift shelters at a temporary camp in Nepal on Sept. 9, 2026, following severe monsoon floods and landslides. (Retuers/Yonhap)

“Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal said in the statement that climate diplomacy should not be limited to participation in international conferences and events but should instead be pursued as a long-term institutional priority,” Xinhua reported.

“The division will facilitate international diplomatic initiatives related to climate and environmental issues and coordinate with relevant national agencies,” Xinhua quoted the statement as saying.

Nepal’s Foreign Ministry said that climate change, climate justice, cooperation among mountainous countries and the development of early warning systems would be central diplomatic priorities.

Since Nepal was rocked by catastrophic flooding on Aug. 26, it has been asking the international community to help fund its recovery in the interest of climate justice.

Shah, the prime minister, is scheduled to leave for New York on Tuesday to attend the 81st UN General Assembly on Thursday. He intends to put climate justice on the agenda and ask other countries for financial assistance as Nepal seeks to rebuild.

For Nepal’s leaders, climate diplomacy and negotiations have grown more urgent in the wake of the nation’s heavy losses.

Khanal, the foreign minister, departed for New York on Sunday to attend ministerial talks.

Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle, following a trip to India on Sept. 19, plans to attend the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s annual meeting on Sept. 28 and the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group next month.

Wagle plans to use those meetings to explain the need for recovery from the Aug. 26 flooding and to draw international attention to Nepal’s growing losses from climate-related disasters.

“Our global greenhouse gas emissions are very little, but the consequences are being felt by the poor people of the country,” he said, stressing the need to “build up the narrative and seek assistance as well as solidarity.”

A funeral service held at the Pashupati crematorium in Kathmandu, Nepal, for family members missing after a massive flash flood on Aug. 26, 2026. (EPA/Yonhap)

Over 1,400 people died in the Aug. 26 flooding, while more than 6,000 remain missing.

The Nepal government estimates damage and losses worth 408.2 billion Nepali rupees (about 3.67 trillion won), with reconstruction costs reaching 723.3 billion rupees (about 6.5 trillion won).