Nepal has stepped up diplomatic efforts to secure financial support from the UN-backed Fund for responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) established to address loss and damage caused by climate change, lobbying board members and raising the issue in international forums.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Environment and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are using diplomatic channels to press Nepal’s case.

A senior official at the foreign ministry said Nepal has been in regular contact with board members of the FRLD since the Bhotekoshi disaster. Fourteen board members representing least developed countries, African countries and the Asia-Pacific region have backed Nepal’s call. They have jointly written to the fund’s co-chairs, urging them to convene an emergency board meeting and take the necessary decisions on Nepal’s floods recovery.

A forest ministry official said the number of board members supporting Nepal’s case is increasing.

The fund’s board has 26 members representing different regions, along with 26 alternate members. Nepal is an alternate member representing the least developed countries. Maheshwar Dhakal, head of the Climate Change Division at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Environment, represents Nepal in the fund’s governing process. Dhakal has remained in close contact with board members and has also held virtual meetings with them.

The foreign ministry is pursuing the matter through Nepal’s diplomatic missions abroad.

The Bhotekoshi river flood on August 26 caused extensive loss of life and property in Nepal. More than 1,350 people have died and nearly 5,000 remain missing. More than 7,500 private homes have been destroyed or damaged. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) has put the preliminary damage at around Rs400 billion.

On August 31, Nepal formally notified the FRLD of the scale of the disaster. The government said the scale of the disaster and the response required were beyond Nepal’s capacity to manage on its own.

“Although Nepal has made a negligible contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions, it has been experiencing the disproportionate impacts of climate change,” the government said in its letter. “As a mountainous country, Nepal is highly vulnerable to climate change.”

The letter requested the fund to make an urgent and effective decision in line with its governing instrument, taking into account the immediate needs and severity of the disaster.

Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle and Agriculture, Forests and Environment Minister Geeta Chaudhary jointly addressed the letter to the fund’s co-chairs on behalf of the government.

Nepal had expected a prompt response. A foreign ministry official said the government had made a political and financial appeal for the fund to immediately activate its financial and institutional mechanisms and provide rapid, direct and effective support.

But a week after the letter was sent, Nepal had yet to receive a response.

Dhakal, who is also an alternate board member, said Nepal had received support from across the international community.

“We are receiving support and solidarity from everyone. Board members are discussing how Nepal’s letter can be considered and addressed as a matter of urgency,” he said. “We remain in contact with them. But until the discussions and consultations produce a concrete outcome, there is little more we can say.”

The UN climate conference in 2022, known as COP27, agreed to establish a dedicated fund to help particularly vulnerable developing countries address economic and non-economic loss and damage caused by climate change.

The fund, however, does not yet have a procedure for responding to Nepal’s request and this has added to the uncertainty over how the appeal should be handled.

Dhakal said board members were therefore discussing both Nepal’s request and the procedures that would be needed to respond to it.

The fund’s next regular board meeting is scheduled for December. Nepal’s diplomatic efforts have increased pressure for an emergency meeting to be convened before then.

Nepal is also preparing to make climate justice a central issue in international forums following the Bhotekoshi disaster. Prime Minister Balendra Shah is due to travel to attend the UN General Assembly in September third week, where Nepal plans to raise the issue.

Agriculture, Forests and Environment Minister Geeta Chaudhary also raised Nepal’s concerns at a ministerial meeting of least developed countries on climate change held in Timor-Leste last week.

The meeting expressed solidarity with the people of Nepal over the Bhotekoshi floods and the destruction they caused. The declaration issued after the meeting opened with an expression of “deep sympathy and solidarity” with the Nepali people over the loss of life and severe infrastructure damage caused by a climate-related glacial landslide and subsequent flooding.

During her visit to Timor-Leste, Chaudhary held a bilateral meeting with the head of the Australian delegation, which is co-chairing the COP31 process. She called for international solidarity on climate justice to address the losses and damage Nepal has suffered from the Bhotekoshi disaster.

Chaudhary said developing countries were responding positively to Nepal’s appeal to the UN’s loss and damage fund.

“We are in continuous discussions with the international community to turn our request into action and ensure that the climate crisis facing Nepal is addressed,” she told Kantipur. “We raised a strong voice for climate justice at the ministerial meeting of least developed countries. The meeting gave Nepal’s situation high priority and reflected it prominently in its declaration.”

Lok Bahadur Poudel Chhetri, the foreign ministry spokesperson, said Nepal had been raising the issue of climate justice for years. But the unprecedented disaster caused by the Bhotekoshi floods has prompted the government to pursue stronger and more effective measures to make the call for climate justice more meaningful and results-oriented.

“All relevant international forums will be used effectively in the days ahead,” he said.