81st Session of the UN General Assembly Address by Rt. Hon. Balendra Shah

0:00[Applause]

0:16Mr. President, Mr. Secretary-General, Excellencies, Distinguished delegates,

0:23Ladies and Gentlemen, I come before you from Nepal.

0:27a distant country in Himalayas carrying a close warning for humanity.

0:31I wish I could stand here today simply to talk about

0:36development, democracy, peace,

0:38and the hopes of young nation.

0:40Instead, I must speak about death and destruction of epic proportion.

0:45About families waiting for loved ones who will never come home.

0:51About communities searching through the mud, rocks.

0:55Water for the people who are these may never be recovered.

1:01About bridges, about roads, schools, homes, livelihood, swept away in minutes.

1:07About a country whose steady progress to achieve

1:10sustainable development goals has been interrupted.

1:13Four weeks ago, the world saw shocking images of catastrophic floods

1:18that swept away Nepal's mountain communities with furosity many have called

1:23mountain tsunami or Himalayan tsunami.

1:25The Bhote Kosi Trishuli disaster was not just a

1:28vocal tragedy. It was a warning to the world

1:31and I ask you today,

1:32have you really heard that

1:34warning? Nearly three years ago standing in the

1:37shadow of our Mount Everest,

1:39the Secretary-General

1:40of United Nations, warned humanity about the madness and impending climate disaster.

1:50We in Nepal heard it,

1:52our communities heard it,

1:54scientists around the world heard it,

1:57they repeated it with evidence.

1:59But we, the political leaders, have been negligent to translate those warning into

2:04action at the speed and scale that the vulnerable people require.

2:09Last month we saw the tragic consequences.

2:12A warming climate that is destabilizing the

2:14phasal Himalayan ecology, melting permafrost

2:18that are fracturing mountains, slopes, beneath the glaciers,

2:21and actually treating the risk of ice-rock avalanche.

2:25Floods, landslides, and other cascading hazards.

2:28The resulting devastation unleashed havoc

2:34on both sides of Nepal's Sainaboda.

2:36The flood continued downstream to India.

2:39This tells us something fundamental.

2:42Climate change does not recognize borders.

2:44glaciers and floods do not travel with stamps and passports.

2:49Excellencies, I'm not here to complain but to share some suggestions.

2:53First, I wish to express Nepal's deep

2:55gratitude to all those who came to our aid after the

2:58matter of the deluge.

3:00Our immediate neighbors, India and China, offered prompt and generous assistance.

3:05Other friendly countries,

3:06the United Nations system,

3:08humanitarian agencies, philanthropies

3:13To all of them, I say thank you on behalf of grateful people of Nepal.

3:25Nepal now faces a massive task of recovery and reconstruction.

3:29After at least 1400 deaths and over 66,000

3:32people still missing a rapid assessment peg,

3:36physical recovery needs at about 10% of GDP.

3:40As in rebuilding after post disaster like

3:432015 Gorka earthquake,

3:44we count on your solidarity

3:46and support.

3:47But we must also understand why this disaster matters beyond Nepal.

3:53Nepal contributes less than 0.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

3:58We did not create these prices.

4:00Yet we are paying for a colossal price for it.

4:07Our mountain slopes are becoming unstable.

4:10Our rivers are becoming less predictable.

4:12And every major disaster threatens to erase years of development.

4:16For Nepal, climate catastrophe is not just a humanitarian event,

4:21but a development emergency.

4:23It destroys roads, bridges, schools, homes, farms,

4:26and livelihoods.

4:27It destroys clean energy infrastructure

4:30that we need to fuel our future.

4:35country to borrow money to repair damage it did not cause.

4:40But we are not here to blame any country or continent.

4:43We are here.

4:46We are not here to turn climate change into another geopolitical battlefield.

4:51We are here to ask everyone to recommit to share responsibility and solidarity.

4:57Through the United Nations Framework

4:59Convention on Climate Change,

5:00the international community

5:03to the principle of common differentiated

5:06responsibility and respective capabilities.

5:09Those who have historically contributed more

5:11to the problem and those with greater capacity

5:13to respond must do more.

5:17Climate justice cannot remain a beautiful phrase in the United Nations' document.

5:22People of our country be allowed to build

5:23their future instead of constantly rebuilding

5:25their past.

5:31These mountains provide water, ecosystem,

5:33agriculture, and livelihood to the population far beyond Nepal.

5:38The Himalayas are not peripheral to the planet,

5:40they are part of the planet's life support system.

5:44That is why, as an urgent first step,

5:46we propose that we establish the Himalayas climate

5:49resilience mechanism,

5:51led by Nepal, India and China.

5:54Through this mechanism,

5:54[APPLAUSE]

6:00Through this mechanism, let us share satellite data

6:03and expertise.

6:04Let us monitor dangerous glacial lakes.

6:06Let us strengthen joint early warning systems.

6:09And when disaster strikes, let us coordinate assistance

6:12across borders.

6:14Let the Himalayas become laboratory

6:16of international cooperation rather than frontier

6:18of fragmented information.

6:20Remarkable for at least developed country,

6:24Nepal is already paying a global role

6:26exceeding its ecological share.

6:28We have restored forest cover nearly half of our territory.

6:32We are installing hydropower at a pace enough to power

6:35all clean energy needs and displaced dirty sources abroad.

6:39We are promoting electric mobility

6:41with an adoption rate to match parts of Europe.

6:44We are strengthening climate adaptation at local level.

6:47and we shall do more to withstand increasing

6:50intensity and frequency of climate disaster.

6:53But Nepal cannot build resilience alone.

6:56Against a crisis made worse by the failure

6:59of global governance,

7:00this is why this assembly

7:02must note six words.

7:03Relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction,

7:07and also responsibility, reparation,

7:10resilience.

7:14The second three are what we need to ensure

7:17that disaster does not become a permanent condition.

7:19When a climate-driven disaster destroys infrastructure of a poor country,

7:24the answer cannot simply be another megalone or a patchwork of small grants.

7:28We need adequate ground-based support.

7:37We need adequate ground-based support from the world.

7:40The loss and damage fund,

7:42the global environment facility and other financing

7:45mechanisms remain grossly inadequate.

7:47Climate finance must not become another bureaucratic maze

7:52through which vulnerable countries spend years that they need help.

7:57When the house is burning, we do not ask the family to complete 50 forms. We act.

8:02This is what climate justice must mean.

8:04Excellencies, this brings me to a larger question.

8:07What kind of international order do you want?

8:10The United Nations was born from humanity's experience of horrific world war.

8:15Its promise was the sovereignty would matter, international law would matter,

8:21the dignity of every human being would matter,

8:24and the weak would not simply have to accept whatever the

8:27powerful decide.

8:28Today, that international system is under strain.

8:32Too often, military and economic power determines

8:34whose voice is heard.

8:36Nepal believes we need much

8:38fairer global economic order.

8:40In 1994, UNDP's

8:42Human Development Report

8:44conceptualized the notion of human insecurity.

8:46It equated security

8:48with people rather than territories

8:50and with development rather than arms.

8:52It called for the peace

8:54dividend to secure freedoms from fear

8:56and want.

8:58The new majority government in Nepal

9:00elected through

9:02The fairest and most peaceful elections in our history,

9:05this March, has had to weather many international adversities since.

9:10When a poor farmer in Nepal went to show her

9:13seeds in monsoon, fertilizers didn't reach her on time.

9:17When we wanted to pay for new highway, there was no bitumen.

9:20When a family sat down for an evening meal, there was shortage of cooking gas.

9:29to floods arriving without warning.

9:31On the other hand, a global supply chain

9:33punishes poor people for causes beyond reason.

9:37Intercontinental missiles arrive on time.

9:40Rifles and omniscience cross-border clear every bottleneck

9:43meet each deadline.

9:45But a peasant in Nepal cannot procure

9:47his fertilizer or fuel at market price at a time of need.

9:51We have built a world with

9:57flawless logistics for war

10:02and broken logistics for

10:08food.

10:09And this is not Nepal's private misfortune.

10:11Ask Bangladesh, ask Bhutan, ask India,

10:14ask the Maldives, ask Pakistan,

10:16ask Sri Lanka.

10:18Ask any other country in our region and you will hear the same account.

10:22Hit by the climate we did not warm, and again hit by the wars we did not start.

10:27(Applause)

10:31This tells us there is a lot more broken

10:34than meets the eye in the global

10:36cooperation.

10:37Excellencies, I am told I am the youngest head

10:40of government to address this assembly this year.

10:42[APPLAUSE]

10:48I did not come here to make that a story.

10:52I came to make sure whatever else is said from this podium,

10:56one thing is said plainly.

10:57A country that is willing to pay should be able to buy.

11:00And a world that can deliver a weapon anywhere in 72 hours

11:05has no excuse for leaving a farmer without means

11:08of decent livelihood.

11:11(applause)

11:15This is why we believe in multilateralism.

11:18This is why we need United Nations,

11:20in which presence of small poor country is felt,

11:23and we can work together towards outcomes.

11:25Climate justice is therefore not only about money.

11:28It is about distributive justice who bears the cost.

11:31It is about procedural justice who has a voice.

11:34It is about whether the future of mountain communities

11:38Small island states,

11:40landlocked and least developed countries,

11:42and generation yet unborn count equally.

11:45Starting tomorrow at the Sagarmatha to

11:47seaside event right here at the United Nations, Nepal

11:50is ready to help lead this conversation.

11:52Mr. President and Excellencies,

11:54we are at this General Assembly at the

11:56moment of profound

11:57global uncertainty.

11:59And with a renewed democratic mandate that

12:02reflects the aspiration of new generation,

12:06demanded the politics of integrity and accountability.

12:10The generational shift is not only a national story.

12:13It is part of global awakening against conflict, inequities,

12:17and lack of opportunities.

12:19The commitment of my government is

12:21clear to build a state that delivers decent jobs,

12:24social protection, and a fair chance to every Nepali

12:27to thrive at home.

12:30The Nepal floods signal of future shapes

12:32(applause)

12:36The Nepal flood signals a future set by rising climate extremes.

12:40Our baselines are no longer relevant.

12:43And we must move from ad hoc responses

12:45to a culture of preparedness.

12:47Let us finance resilience and invest in insurance

12:50and innovation.

12:52Let us build stronger infrastructure and institutions.

12:55Let us reduce fossil fuel dependence.

12:57Let us build systems that warn, alert,

13:00and save lives. Let us reform the order that

13:03lives the weakest with least power. And when

13:06the next warning comes from the rooftop of

13:08the world, let us be ready to hear it and ready

13:10to act.