Ice and rock broke away
A section of glacier and underlying bedrock failed high on the Langtang Lirung massif.
A people-led global appeal
The mountains are melting.
Nepal is paying.
Nepal contributed almost nothing to creating the climate crisis. Yet its people are losing homes, livelihoods, heritage and lives. This is not charity. It is justice.
See what happened LIVE PETITION0people standing with Nepal
OUR GOAL1,000,000global signatures
We contributed the least.
We are losing the most.
Polluters must pay.
The August 2026 disaster
Loss and damage is no longer an abstract debate.
On 26 August 2026, a section of glacier and underlying bedrock collapsed from the Langtang Lirung massif. The ice-rock avalanche produced a destructive surge through the Lhende Khola, Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river systems.
Families were swept away. Communities were buried. Homes, schools, roads, bridges, farms and hydropower infrastructure were destroyed. This glacier-related disaster unfolded in a Himalayan region already experiencing accelerating glacier loss and rising climate risk.
Read the NDRRMA-based situation reportHow the catastrophe unfolded
From a collapsing mountainside to a national disaster.
An avalanche gathered force
The falling mass entrained ice, water, rock and sediment as it entered the Lhende Khola catchment.
The river was blocked
Debris temporarily dammed the river. When the obstruction released, a sudden surge accelerated downstream.
The destruction spread
The flood travelled through the Bhotekoshi, Trishuli and Narayani systems, striking communities far from the collapse.
The scale of loss
This was not a local incident. It became a national catastrophe.
Reported figures were still changing as rescue and identification work continued.
1,300+people reported dead
5,500+people reported missing
10%of national power capacity reportedly hit
$4–5Bestimated reconstruction requirement
40+bridges reportedly destroyed
11+hydropower projects damaged
Death and missing-person figures reflect reporting available on 8 September 2026 across Nepal and Tibet and remain provisional. Other damage figures reflect reporting available on 5 September. The event mechanics are based on Nepal’s disaster-response reporting.
Watch · The Telegraph India
Video: The Telegraph India
Stop calling it aid. Stop calling it generosity. What is owed to Nepal is climate debt — money that is due because of harm that was caused, not a gift that so-called developed countries get to decide whether or how much to give.
Nepal’s demand
Reparations—not another appeal for sympathy.
From Nepal, the flood is not only a humanitarian emergency. It is an economic reckoning imposed on a country that contributed almost nothing to the crisis driving Himalayan risk.
Video source: Al Jazeera English
Hydropower plants, highways, bridges and entire villages have been damaged or erased. Nepalese authorities estimate that rebuilding may cost US$5 billion—and the true bill continues to rise while thousands of people, many of them family breadwinners, remain missing.
Behind every figure is a family. Chirachit Kurki lost an aunt and cousin as they waited to cross the Nepal–China border. His experience reflects what survivors already understand: this was not simply an unavoidable act of nature. Human-driven warming is destabilising the Himalayan environment on which millions depend.
Twelve hydropower plants in the Trishuli Basin—built with Chinese participation and international finance—were reported severely damaged. Tens of thousands of families now need homes. Climate activist Aakriti Dotel argues that the countries and institutions connected to development in the Himalayas must help pay for what has been destroyed.
Emergency relief matters. But relief is not repayment. Nepal is asking for compensation proportionate to the harm—not grants presented as generosity after losses measured in billions.
Estimated rebuilding costUS$5B
UN emergency appealNearly $50Mabout 1% of estimated rebuilding cost
US emergency assistance$3.5Mabout 0.07% of estimated rebuilding cost
These measures may save lives today, but they cannot restore what Nepal has lost. Meanwhile, a separate landslide in Darchula has blocked a river and displaced more families—a warning that this crisis is continuing, not ending.
From Nepal’s Parliament
Prime Minister Balendra Shah puts climate justice on the national agenda.
Addressing the House of Representatives on 2 September 2026, Prime Minister Shah described the Bhote Koshi catastrophe as a warning from a Himalayan region facing accelerating climate risk.
“The flood in the Bhote Koshi River in Rasuwa was not an ordinary flood... It was one of the region's major disasters, triggered by an avalanche of snow and ice in the Himalayan region.”
“This incident indicates that the risks we face in the Himalayan region are increasing alongside climate change.”
“...the time has also come for us to forcefully present to the international community the disasters we are suffering because of climate change.”
“Climate change is a product of the whole world's contribution hence mitigating and managing its effects is the shared responsibility of the global community.”
Rt Hon. Balendra ShahPrime Minister of Nepal · House of Representatives · 2 September 2026Source
UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY24SEP2026 · New York
One million voices behind Nepal
Give Prime Minister Shah a global public mandate.
Prime Minister Shah is scheduled to take Nepal’s climate concerns to the 81st United Nations General Assembly on 24 September 2026. A rapidly growing petition can show that his appeal is backed not only by one government, but by people across Nepal and the world.
Every verified signature strengthens the public case for climate compensation, debt-free recovery finance, Himalayan monitoring and international responsibility. We want Nepal to arrive at the UN with evidence that the world is listening—and demanding action.
Witness the destruction
Look at what the climate crisis costs.
Nepal · 2026THIS IS LOSS
AND DAMAGE.
AND DAMAGE.
The truthCLIMATE DEBT.
NOT CHARITY.
NOT CHARITY.
Nepal contributed almost nothingYET NEPAL
PAYS THE PRICE.
PAYS THE PRICE.
There is no time to waitACT BEFORE
THE NEXT DISASTER.
THE NEXT DISASTER.
This will not be a one-off
The next disaster is already forming.
Glacier retreat, thawing frozen ground, unstable lakes, extreme rainfall and exposed infrastructure are combining into a growing chain of risk. Nepal cannot rebuild after every disaster while the world continues business as usual.
The injustice in one number
Nepal: 0.107% of global emissions.
Yet Nepal is being asked to absorb losses measured in lives, livelihoods and billions of dollars.
At the average 2023 rateChina emits Nepal’s entire annual total in about 31 hours.
United States3.5 days
India5 days
2023 territorial GHG emissionsShare of worldCompared with Nepal
China15.94 Gt CO₂e
30.1%280× NepalUnited States5.96 Gt CO₂e
11.3%105× NepalIndia4.13 Gt CO₂e
7.8%73× NepalRussia2.67 Gt CO₂e
5.0%47× NepalBrazil1.30 Gt CO₂e
2.5%23× NepalIndonesia1.20 Gt CO₂e
2.3%21× NepalJapan1.04 Gt CO₂e
2.0%18× NepalIran1.00 Gt CO₂e
1.9%18× NepalSaudi Arabia0.81 Gt CO₂e
1.5%14× NepalCanada0.75 Gt CO₂e
1.4%13× NepalNepal0.057 Gt CO₂e
0.107%1×Source: European Commission EDGAR 2024 report, using 2023 territorial greenhouse-gas emissions excluding land-use change and forestry. Values rounded. The time comparisons divide each country’s annual total by its average daily rate.
Explore the EDGAR data Beyond a single fund
Nepal needs a global compact—not another expression of concern.
The Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage is necessary, but its current scale cannot meet the magnitude of Nepal’s present losses or future risk.
We call on the United Nations, the world’s highest-emitting countries, multilateral development institutions and major corporate polluters to establish a Nepal–Himalayan Climate Recovery and Resilience Compact.
Immediate recovery
Debt-free finance for rescue, shelter, reconstruction and support for bereaved and displaced families.
Protection before disaster
Glacier monitoring, early-warning systems, safer infrastructure and planned relocation from extreme-risk zones.
Polluter-funded commitment
Predictable contributions based on current emissions, historical responsibility and ability to pay.
Independent accountability
Public tracking of every commitment, project and dollar, with affected communities represented in decisions.
The Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage
The fund exists. Nepal should be able to reach it—rapidly and fairly.
The international fund was created to assist climate-vulnerable developing countries facing economic and non-economic loss from extreme weather and slow-onset events. Its initial Barbados Implementation Modalities provide USD 250 million in grants, with individual requests generally ranging from USD 5 million to USD 20 million.
We call for an urgent Nepal request, an immediate first grant, and finance proportionate to the country’s verified losses—not another loan.
Understand the fundThe Nepal Climate Justice Appeal
What we demand
Justice must be adequate, additional, accessible and accountable.
Fund Nepal now
An urgent, country-led request to the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage for the August 2026 disaster.
Grants, not debt
Climate-vulnerable countries should not be forced to borrow to rebuild from a crisis they did little to create.
Communities first
Finance must reach affected families, local governments, farmers, workers and displaced communities directly.
Count every loss
Recognise deaths, displacement, trauma, culture, livelihoods, biodiversity and community identity—not infrastructure alone.
“
Nepal does not seek sympathy alone.Add your name
Nepal demands climate justice.
Climate Justice Journal
The case the world cannot ignore.
Himalayan hazards · 8 September 2026
Nepal floods 2026 explained: glacier collapse, GLOFs and the warning system the Himalayas need
What caused the catastrophe—and the monitoring, regional cooperation and climate finance needed before the next Himalayan disaster.
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