Nepal hosts 'Sagarmatha to the Sea' climate event at UN headquarters

Nepal organised a high-level programme on climate change at the United Nations Headquarters in New York under the title 'Sagarmatha to the Sea: A Call to Action for a Climate Resilient Future'. Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal led the event, which drew senior participants from Nepal, the United Nations and a number of other countries. Nepal decided to host it after the Bhote Koshi flood and showed a short video of that disaster to the gathering. Khanal told the audience that mountains, rivers, oceans, coasts and islands belong to one connected ecosystem, so the climate crisis calls for collective and coordinated action. Because the climate system does not respect political borders, he said, shared risks from the mountains to the sea should be handled in an integrated way. He thanked the co-organising countries Bhutan, Maldives, New Zealand, Samoa and Tajikistan, together with the United Nations environment programme and its Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. Describing Nepal's current situation as difficult, the minister referred to the collapse of a large section of rock and glacier in the Langtang region on 26 August, which he said caused loss of life and damage to property and infrastructure. He called the event a 'Himalayan Tsunami' and said "The wounds are still fresh". He described the Himalayan region as the 'Third Pole', which he said holds more ice and snow than anywhere outside the polar regions, with more than 63,700 glaciers, and said Nepal had lost about one-third of its glacial area over the past three decades. Khanal set out five proposals. Science, policy and investment should treat the Himalayas, freshwater systems and oceans as one ecological continuum; the Himalayas should get higher priority in the climate process and be systematically included in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit on warming should be maintained, with faster emission cuts and delivery of agreed commitments on moving away from fossil fuels; early warning, resilient infrastructure, anticipatory action based on forecasts and scientific cooperation should be strengthened; and developing countries need adequate, predictable and accessible climate finance, technology and capacity building, with a properly resourced loss and damage fund. The minister said Nepal was doing its part: about 46 percent of the country is under forest, clean hydropower and electric transport are growing, and community-led conservation underpins its environmental management. He recalled that Nepal held the first 'Sagarmatha Dialogue' in 2025 and said it would welcome the international community to a second edition next year. Nepal wants to build 'Sagarmatha to the Sea' into a forum for knowledge, partnership and practical cooperation, he added.