{"id":2480,"date":"2024-01-16T14:44:44","date_gmt":"2024-01-16T14:44:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pearl.reading.ac.uk\/academy\/?p=2480"},"modified":"2024-01-25T10:19:41","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T10:19:41","slug":"nepal-at-risk-of-climate-hazards-despite-pledges-from-global-community-copcas-2023-student-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pearl.reading.ac.uk\/academy\/nepal-at-risk-of-climate-hazards-despite-pledges-from-global-community-copcas-2023-student-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"Nepal at risk of climate hazards despite pledges from global community \u2013 COPCAS 2023 Student Blog"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Interview by Harley Pope, reporting by Alex Moores<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Nepali academic Professor Biraj Singh Thapa has called for direct compensation of climate-induced damage in talks at COP28, claiming that existing mechanisms are not able to address the hazards Nepal faces.<\/p>\n

Due to its precarious position on the Himalayas, Nepal is already feeling some of the worst impacts of climate change, despite contributing very little to the crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year we lose several thousands of people in Nepal, just as a result of climate change induced disasters in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Existing funds are supposed to help countries adapt to the increasingly destructive impacts of climate change and to reduce their contributions to the crisis.<\/p>\n

However, Thapa, who works as an Associate Professor of Engineering at the University of Katmandu, says, \u201cthe terms and conditions to access it is quite difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thapa argues Nepal needs both the support to realise its potential as a green energy producer, and a recognition of the losses it has faced and will continue to face as climate change progresses.<\/p>\n

\u201cMostly, the compensation funds that are coming, are to build bridges that were taken off by floods or build houses were damaged by landslide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thapa also criticises the injustice of resorting to economic action in the face of human loss of the Nepali people. \u201cJust giving a blanket or small temporary housing to them, instead of as a compensation to the lives of the children\u2019s or family members they have lost, is not fair.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of commitments, but of course, not the resources that we should have access to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thapa has also vocalised his disdain at the disparity between the commitments made by the international community and the actual level of support Nepal has received.<\/p>\n

\u201cNepal is considered as the world\u2019s second largest hydropower potential country in terms of the land we have, however hydropower is contributing just 4% of our energy supply system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through the Green Climate Fund, Nepal should in theory have access to $100 million of funds. \u201cThat\u2019s not small.\u201d But they have never been able to spend the full amount it receives each year. \u201cTo use 25% of the GCF is, I think, kind of a milestone for Nepal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rising global temperatures mean that flooding in Nepal is increasingly deadly each year. \u201cWe are facing the largest problems from climate change due to the melting of Himalayas [\u2026] and flash floods washing large swells.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2022, Nepal experienced three instances of heavy flooding that existing infrastructure was unable to cope with. In just one event, 20,000 people were displaced in the Koshi river region.<\/p>\n

Even if ambitious climate change targets are met, such effects will continue to have destructive impacts to Nepal\u2019s people, culture, and national heritage.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur Himalayas, which are the world\u2019s tallest structures, are actually very weak sediments. It\u2019s not as strong as European [land] or the Andes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the success of enacting the Loss and Damage Fund on day one of COP28, Thapa is sceptical that this will have a meaningful impact to the communities broken apart by the climate crisis in Nepal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think life never can be compensated.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n