Nepal pushes for regional climate cooperation following recent disasters
After the Bhotekoshi-Trishuli floods and landslides, Nepal used talks in New Delhi and Bangkok to press for regional cooperation on climate and disaster risk, including shared data and satellite-based early warning.
Nepal has launched high-level diplomatic efforts in New Delhi and Bangkok to build regional cooperation on disaster risk reduction, following the floods and landslides that struck the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river basins in August. Experts at the talks described the disaster as a "cascading risk" that calls for integrated, cross-border strategies.
In New Delhi, Nepal's acting ambassador to India, Dr. Surendra Thapa, said neighbouring countries needed to work together on environmental sustainability to reduce disaster risk. According to Gorkhapatra and Nepal Television, Thapa called for better preparedness against glacial hazards and for regional cooperation between Nepal, India and China, saying floods, landslides and melting glaciers were affecting both Nepal and India. At the event, organised by the Nepali Embassy and Initiatives of Media Women, Dr. Rajendra Singh, a former director general of India's National Disaster Management Authority, said disasters do not recognise borders and that Nepal and India must work on them together.
In Bangkok, Nepal presented the lessons of the disaster at a dialogue held alongside the fifth ministerial conference of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). As reported by Nagarik News and Gorkhapatra, Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Birajbhakt Shrestha described the Bhotekoshi-Trishuli disaster as a warning for the whole Asia-Pacific region, not only for Nepal.
A push for technology and shared data
Nepal set out three priorities for disaster resilience: detailed study of interlinked climate and geological risks, rapid sharing of emergency and hydrological data between neighbouring countries during a crisis, and stronger early warning through space technology, satellite mapping and artificial intelligence. Minister Shrestha proposed regional cooperation on space technology and access to satellite data for climate disaster preparedness, a proposal that 53 countries have backed, according to Nagarik News.
According to scientists at the Bangkok dialogue, with global temperatures passing the 1.5-degree Celsius limit, disasters in the Himalaya are no longer confined to one country and increasingly affect areas downstream and across borders. Representatives of the World Meteorological Organization, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and several regional governments took part.
The dialogue is expected to support Nepal's reconstruction and rehabilitation work and to offer policy guidance and a common strategy to other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.