Nepal to use flood study to claim millions from UN fund

Nepal is set to leverage a newly published scientific study connecting climate change to last month's deadly floods as the core evidence for a multi-million-dollar financial request from the United Nations.

Sources indicate that Kathmandu aims to secure approximately 20 million dollars, roughly 15 million pounds, from the UN Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage. Official figures show that the devastating disaster along the Nepal-Tibet border has resulted in approximately 1,400 fatalities, while 6,150 people remain unaccounted for.

The research, conducted by the World Weather Attribution group and released on Thursday, concluded that climate change served as a contributing factor in the massive rock and ice avalanche near Mount Langtang Lirung. The resulting torrents swept through villages, destroying residential areas and critical energy infrastructure.

Dr Friederike Otto, a climatologist at Imperial College London and co-author of the report, emphasized that human-influenced climate warming preconditioned the disaster. The study noted that regional temperatures during July and August were roughly 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer, alongside glaciers thinning by about half a metre annually and heavy prior snowfall.

The UN Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, operational since last year, requires applicant nations to submit robust empirical evidence proving climate attribution for their losses. With nearly 120 countries submitting requests totaling almost 3 billion dollars against a pool of under 400 million dollars in available funds, Nepal's new scientific report provides crucial backing for its claim.