UN Climate Fund to Hold Emergency Meeting on Nepal Flood Damage

Kathmandu. An emergency meeting of the board of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's 'Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage' will be held on November 1st to address the humanitarian and physical crisis caused by the devastating flood in the BhoteKoshi-Trishuli corridor of Rasuwa. The fund has called a special virtual meeting of the 26-member board to decide on providing emergency relief after the disaster. The Nepali government formally corresponded with the fund on September 1st, requesting emergency financial assistance through the 'Rapid Response' mechanism, stating that the flood in Rasuwa on August 27th was a climate-induced disaster. The fund has made this the main agenda of the meeting by accepting Nepal's correspondence, informed climate finance expert Raju Pandit Chhetri. Chhetri said, 'The fund's statute itself has provisions for 'Rapid Response' and emergency meetings to provide immediate relief in climate-induced disaster events. However, the fund had not disbursed funds to any country in this manner until now. Accepting Nepal's serious situation, the fund has called such an emergency meeting for the first time in history.' According to Chhetri, there is a strong possibility that the meeting will decide to provide approximately 20 million US dollars (around 2.7 to 3 billion rupees) in assistance to Nepal. He stated that the fund's board has 26 members, including 14 developing and 12 developed countries, and decisions are made by consensus rather than voting, so the environment is favorable for Nepal. Least Developed Countries (LDCs), African, and Asia-Pacific nations represented on the fund's board have also formally requested immediate assistance to Nepal through letters. Chhetri clarified that even if the fund approves assistance, the possibility of receiving the funds immediately is low due to the spending framework (modality). He analyzed that the meeting could decide on three main options regarding Nepal: first, to provide a specific amount of assistance to Nepal immediately; second, to request a work plan and framework on which areas to spend and how; or third, to study Nepal's proposed spending plan and make a final disbursement at the tenth board meeting in December. The fund, which became operational from the UN Climate Conference (COP-28) held in Dubai, has received compensation claims worth $2.8 billion from risk-prone nations worldwide. Nepal had already registered three proposals through the regular process, but the assistance requested for the Rasuwa flood is entirely separate and of an emergency nature. The severe flood in the BhoteKoshi and Trishuli rivers of Rasuwa on August 27th caused a large number of human casualties and billions of rupees in physical damage to under-construction and operational hydropower projects, roads, and local infrastructure.