Loss and damage fund calls first emergency meeting over Nepal floods

The board of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage will hold an extraordinary virtual meeting on 22 October to decide on emergency support for Nepal, the Kathmandu Post reported on Saturday, citing correspondence sent to member states.

Under the draft decision described by the Post, the board would provisionally reserve $21.6m from the fund's available resources: $20m for Nepal and $1.6m for oversight fees. Nepal's national focal point would be invited to submit a funding request, and the board would consider a pilot allowing Nepal to apply outside the regular submission window, a step that could shorten the wait for money.

The request follows the disaster of 26 August, when an ice-and-rock avalanche in a Himalayan watershed sent a debris flow and floodwaters down the Bhotekoshi–Trishuli–Narayani river system. The government estimates initial loss and damage at no less than $2.69bn and puts recovery and reconstruction needs at $4.71bn or more, leaving the proposed sum a small fraction of the total.

Seven weeks of consultations

Nepal asked the fund for help at the end of August. Onlinekhabar reported in September that the co-chairs replied within about a week, saying consultations had begun, and that Nepal's initial request was for $20m. Since then the co-chairs have consulted board members and observers, and an informal drafting group met on 5 and 8 October to prepare the decision text, according to the Post. The meeting was requested by board members representing the least developed countries, African states and Asia-Pacific states.

A senior Nepali official told the Post that the decision would be taken on 22 October but formally announced at the COP31 climate summit in Türkiye, which runs from 9 to 22 November. Prime Minister Balendra Shah and Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal have both pressed for climate justice and compensation. Campaigners welcomed the meeting but argued that emergency finance should not hinge on special sessions, calling for a permanent rapid-response mechanism and far larger resources.

The fund's regular tenth board meeting is scheduled for Manila in December, with the eleventh due in Kathmandu in March 2027.

Sources

The Kathmandu Post (external link); Onlinekhabar English (external link)