Justice Not Aid India China Us Have Responsibility Nepal Minister Shisir Khanal On Floods

Nepal Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal on Wednesday launched a diplomatic push to seek climate-related compensation from major global greenhouse emitters – specifically India, China, and the United States – for the devastation caused by the August 26 flash floods.

The Indian government has not yet commented on the minister’s statement.

Floods along the Bhotekoshi-Trishuli river corridor – most likely caused by an avalanche upstream – have wreaked havoc; over 1,100 people were killed and more than 4,000 are still missing, and roads, bridges, and hydroelectric power plants have been damaged.

As the country struggles to recover after the disaster – the worst since the 2015 earthquake killed over 9,000 people and caused an estimated $10 billion in damages – Khanal said Kathmandu is ‘shifting its diplomatic framework from ‘aid’ to ‘justice and compensation”.

Post-disaster assistance should be a matter of legal and moral liability and not ‘charity’, he told Kantipur TV. Excerpts of the interview were carried by The Kathmandu Post.

“We are shifting our diplomatic framework from “aid” to “justice and compensation”. This is not a matter of charity; it is a matter of legal and moral liability,” the Foreign Minister was cited as saying by the Nepali newspaper.

In the interview Khanal said India, China, and the US have a ‘historical responsibility to compensate vulnerable nations like Nepal’. The minister’s remarks seem based on widely available data – including that published by the United Nations – that indicates the three countries produce a combined 45 to 48 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

“The major industrial emitters—such as China, which is the world’s top emitter, the United States at number two, and India at number three—have a historical responsibility to compensate vulnerable nations like Nepal,” he added.

However, India’s share of that is roughly seven to eight per cent.

China’s contributions are an estimated 27 to 29 per cent, according to assessments by the UN Environment Programme and the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Khanal said the country’s Ministry of Finance has dispatched a formal climate compensation claim to “international partners”. He, however, didn’t elaborate if the letter was sent to the three aforementioned countries.

Calling it a matter of “civilisational survival”, he said Nepal would be raising the issue with “absolute firmness and clarity” at every upcoming international forum.

The remarks from the Foreign Minister comes at a time when Nepal Prime Minister Balendra Shah is under pressure from within the government and his Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) to lead the country’s delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in New York and seek international support following the country’s worst flood disaster.

The government has urged the prime minister to use the UNGA forum to seek climate justice for Nepal, international support for post-disaster rehabilitation and reconstruction, and a stronger global response to protect the Himalayan ecosystem.

Majid Alam is a Senior Copy Editor at Indianexpress.com. With over seven years of experience in journalism, he has worked across leading newsrooms, managing online news desk operations, heading shifts, and handling breaking news in fast-paced environments. While his primary experience has been on the news desk, his interests extend to field reporting and in-depth storytelling. He has reported stories on government policy, health, climate, and migration. He has previously worked with Hindustan Times, ABP LIVE, and News18. Majid holds a Master's degree in Convergent Journalism from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre at Jamia Millia Islamia. He was also selected for an international mobility programme to study International Affairs at Sciences Po, Paris. He is part of the OCEANS Network, the alumni network of Erasmus+ exchange scholars, where he serves as the National Representative for India. ... Read More