Who Pays for Climate Disasters? UN Loss & Damage Fund & Nepal’s Bhote Koshi Floods

Who Pays for Climate Disasters? UN Loss & Damage Fund & Nepal’s Bhote Koshi Floods | All Exams

The Nepal disaster at a glance

What happened: On 26 August 2026, a climate-induced ice-and-rock avalanche in the Himalayas triggered a debris flow and flash floods

River system: Bhote Koshi – Trishuli – Narayani (the Narayani is known as the Gandak in India)

Worst-hit area: Rasuwa district, Nepal

Human toll: More than 1,300 people dead and thousands missing (Nepal government figures)

Damage: Homes, roads, bridges and hydropower plants destroyed; about USD 2.7 billion in damage and loss, plus an estimated USD 4.8 billion for recovery and reconstruction

Fund response: USD 21.6 million provisionally set aside (Nepal had requested USD 20 million). Nepal must now submit a formal funding proposal.

What is “Loss and Damage” in climate negotiations?

The difference between Mitigation, Adaptation and Loss & Damage

History of the fund: agreed at COP27 (Sharm el-Sheikh, 2022) and operationalised at COP28 (Dubai, 2023)

How the FRLD works: the Board, the Secretariat (Philippines), and the World Bank as interim trustee