Nepal’s government believes the country’s devastating natural disasters stem largely from pollution generated by three nations — India, China and the United States — and is now pursuing compensation from them, according to officials in Kathmandu.
Prime Minister Balendra Shah is expected to raise the matter at the United Nations General Assembly in September, elevating what began as an administrative position into a formal diplomatic push, according to Anandabazar.
Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal told domestic broadcaster Kantipur TV that India, China and the United States are the world’s three largest emitters of greenhouse gases, whose effects are felt globally.
He said Nepal was seeking redress from these countries to help it cope with the aftermath of disaster, framing the demand explicitly as a matter of justice rather than charity. “We are not asking for aid, but for justice and compensation.
Accordingly, we are taking diplomatic steps,” Khanal said, adding: “This is not a matter of mercy. This is a moral and legal obligation.”
Kathmandu has estimated that at least $5 billion (approximately 475.84 billion Indian rupees) will be needed to rebuild after last Wednesday’s disaster in Nepal.
Authorities are appealing to the United Nations for emergency funding through its special climate-disaster fund, while stressing that what they are seeking is compensation rather than humanitarian assistance, and that this compensation should come specifically from the top three greenhouse gas emitters.
Prime Minister Balendra Shah, widely known in Nepali political circles as Balan, intends to address the UN General Assembly in person to bring international attention to the issue.
The 81st session of the General Assembly opens at UN headquarters in New York on 8 September. Nepal had originally planned for Foreign Minister Khanal to represent the country there, but the government has since decided to send the prime minister instead, in order to give the demand greater weight.
On Monday, Maheshwar Dhakal, head of the climate change department at Nepal’s environment ministry, laid responsibility for the disaster on wealthier nations.
He said man-made climate change was among the causes of the landslide that struck the Harappa forest area on the Nepal-Tibet border last week, and argued that vulnerable countries such as Nepal were bearing the brunt of decades of greenhouse gas emissions from richer nations.
“Those who have played the least role [in greenhouse gas emissions] are suffering the most,” he said, though he did not name specific countries at the time. Nepal has now identified three nations directly, two of which are its immediate neighbours and countries on which Kathmandu relies in several respects.
As of Wednesday morning, the bodies of 1,127 people had been recovered following the Harappa landslide on 26 August, Nepal Police said, with rescue operations still under way and 4,858 people still reported missing.
