New York, September 24 Prime Minister Balendra Shah has called for greater inter

From Onlinekhabar English

New York, September 24 Prime Minister Balendra Shah has called for greater international support for countries facing the consequences of climate change, saying Nepal is paying a “colossal price” for a crisis it did little to create. Addressing the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday, Shah placed Nepal’s recent Bhotekoshi-Trishuli floods at the centre of his speech, describing the disaster as a warning to the international community about the growing risks facing the Himalayas. “Climate change does not recognize borders,” Shah said, pointing to the effects of melting glaciers, unstable mountain slopes, floods and landslides across Nepal, China and India. He said the disaster had killed at least 1,400 people and left more than 6,000 missing, while preliminary assessments put Nepal’s physical recovery needs at around 10 percent of its GDP. The floods, he said, had swept away bridges, roads, schools, homes and livelihoods and interrupted Nepal’s progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. “I come before you from Nepal — a distant country in the Himalayas — carrying a close warning for humanity,” Shah said.