Foreign Minister Shishir Khanaal urged the United Nations to address the escalating climate change risks in the Himalayan region during a meeting with UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday at the COP31 climate conference in Antalya, Turkey, which runs from November 9 to 20, 2026.
Khanaal, who was part of a ministerial delegation from Least Developed Countries (LDCs), emphasized the need to keep global temperature increases within the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit. He also called for increased support to address loss and damage caused by climate change and advocated for a dedicated focus on mountain issues in international climate discussions.
The Foreign Minister proposed including a Mountain Work Program under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Nepal, Bhutan, and Kyrgyzstan had jointly requested to add “1.5 degrees Celsius temperature increase in mountains” to the COP31 negotiation agenda. However, diplomatic efforts to secure a separate formal agenda item for mountain issues were unsuccessful. The COP31 presidency has agreed to continue consultations on mountains and climate change.
During their meeting, Khanaal and Guterres also discussed post-Bhotekoshi flood reconstruction, increased climate finance, and strengthening multilateral cooperation. Nepal was recently approved to receive $20 million from the Loss and Damage Fund, established at COP27 to assist countries affected by climate-related disasters. This amount is significantly less than the estimated $7.5 billion needed for physical damage, recovery, and reconstruction following a devastating glacier flood on August 26, 2026, which killed over 1,500 people and left more than 5,600 missing.
The Himalayan region experiences temperature increases three to five times higher than the global average, with glacial ice melting twice as fast as 26 years ago. Nepal ranks tenth among countries most affected by climate change based on average annual temperatures between 2000 and 2019, despite contributing only 0.08% to global greenhouse gas emissions.
Secretary-General Guterres commended Nepal’s significant contributions to UN peacekeeping operations.
Background
- On August 26, 2026, a glacier collapsed into a tributary of the Bhotekoshi River in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, causing a devastating flood that killed over 1,400 people and left more than 5,000 missing.
- Nepal, Bhutan, and Kyrgyzstan jointly pushed for the inclusion of mountains and climate change as a formal agenda item at COP31.
- COP30 had requested the chairs of its subsidiary bodies to organize a dialogue on mountains and climate change.
What happens next
The COP31 presidency has agreed to continue consultations on mountains and climate change, with further research dialogues expected at UN climate meetings in Bonn, Germany, in 2027 and 2028.
