Nepal's catastrophic flooding last month "was a warning to the world" about the rising dangers of climate change, Prime Minister Balendra Shah said in an address to the United Nations general assembly, urging countries to step up to help his country adapt.

Speaking in sunglasses during the UN's high-level week, he said a warming climate was "destabilising the fragile Himalayan ecology," melting permafrost and glaciers and accelerating hazards.

The nation suffered one of the worst catastrophes in its history late last month when a tsunami-like flood, triggered by a high-altitude glacial mountain collapse along the China-Nepal border, cut a swathe of destruction.

More than 1,400 people died, 6,000 are still missing, and the economic devastation runs in the billions of US dollars.

Scientists from the World Weather Attribution have described the event as a "compound crisis" in which local geological instability combined with long-term warming has led to glacier retreat and permafrost thaw.

"Nepal contributes less than 0.1 percent of global greenhouse gas emission. We did not create this crisis, yet we are paying for it," Shah said.

He urged the international community to help bear the cost of helping his country adapt to climate change because "Nepal cannot build resilience alone against a crisis made worse by the failure of global governance".

Shah proposed to create what he called a "Himalaya Climate Resilience Mechanism," which would include Nepal and its neighbours China and India, and allow them to share satellite data and expertise, monitor glacial lakes and strengthen joint early-warning systems. (AFP)


Edited by Aaron Tam