Nepal’s biggest fears are coming true: Climate change-induced disasters are here. The recent catastrophic “rare flood” in Thame village in Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality is a case in point. Last week, the swollen Thame River reportedly destroyed 20 houses and an elementary school and displaced 135 residents of the village. Two of the five small glacial lakes formed above the settlement burst, causing a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF). GLOF occurs when a glacial lake breaches its natural dam called moraine—a pile of debris left behind by a glacier.

The Thame incident has again centred people’s attention on mountains and climate change. We cannot help but remember a 2020 report by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), which warned that 47 glacial lakes in Nepal, China and India are at high risk of bursting, 21 of them from Nepal alone. As alarming is the organisation’s 2023 report, which projects a threefold rise in GLOF risks across the Hindu-Kush Himalayas by the end of this century and peak GLOF dangers expected by 2050. These warnings should be enough for us to be serious about this matter.

Such a crisis has been looming over us for a long time now, but our efforts to mitigate climate risks are far from adequate. Nepal has already witnessed 24 GLOFs, yet there aren’t enough disaster preparedness programmes, prevention methods, comprehensive risk mapping and risk assessments in place. The politicians’ priorities, primarily focused on filling their coffers and racing towards premiership, have not only neglected such grave issues but also amplified them. We cannot wait for another disaster to devastate lives and properties before we take action.

GLOFs, with the right interventions, are not insurmountable, according to experts. We needn’t look far to understand how human intervention can lessen the risks of glacial lakes. Take Imja Glacial Lake in the Everest Region and Tso Rolpa in Dolakha, for instance. In 2016, the Nepal Army lowered the water level of Imja Lake by building an exit channel for excessive water and, in 2000, the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology lowered the water level in Tso Rolpa by three metres. These interventions were costly but protected thousands of people living in the settlements downward. Such efforts must also be scaled up in other high-risk lakes, and monitoring teams and early warning systems should be administered in such areas.

Our authorities should immediately emulate such successful practices to reduce the severity of GLOFs. We have the opportunity to discuss the crisis in the upcoming COP29 and lobby for a significant share of Loss and Damage Funds. The minimal funds the government allocates for climate change-related issues can never cover the severity we face. Developed countries and international organisations are duty bound to help Nepal with adaptation and mitigation strategies, apart from supporting risk assessments of GLOFs. As climate change has harmed us in ways that are both profound and perilous, the general public should also realise their roles in escalating the climate crisis and vow to lessen it by switching to environment-friendly practices. We have no other option but to commit to urgent and joint actions to save the future of our planet.