Prakash Sigdel, USA

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Prime Minister Balendra Shah, while addressing the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, has presented the climate crisis facing Nepal as a global problem and a matter of climate justice. Citing the devastating disaster in the Bhotekoshi-Trishuli region in particular, he said that countries like Nepal, which emit low greenhouse gases, are paying a disproportionate price for the climate crisis. Shah said that the Bhotekoshi-Trishuli disaster is not just a local tragedy in Nepal, but a warning for the world. Stating that climate change knows no borders or geography, he opined that glaciers and floods do not see national borders or passports. He said that Nepal, despite contributing less than 0.1 percent to global greenhouse gas emissions, is suffering the huge impact of climate change. “We did not create this crisis, yet we are forced to pay a heavy price for it,” he said. Shah urged the international community not to make climate justice a beautiful word limited to United Nations documents. According to him, communities affected by climate disasters should be given the opportunity to build their future instead of forcing them to repeatedly rebuild the past.