Badri Sigdel<\/p>\n
The increasing temperature every year, melting glaciers and the resulting disasters in the Himalayan region of Nepal have now crossed the warning level and are showing the country’s climate crisis as a real catastrophe. The warning of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres standing in Khumbu about three years ago is now proving to be true in the disaster of Thame and Bhotekoshi. And taking this reality to the world stage, the women-led social organization ‘Saath Foundation Nepal’ has been continuously raising its voice for climate justice from Khumbu, Karnali and Terai to the national and international level. <\/p>\n
Guterres <\/strong> visited Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality in Solukhumbu district in October 2023 during a four-day visit to Nepal.After meeting the locals there and understanding the impact of climate change on their daily lives, the video message released by him became famous all over the world. According to media reports, the secretary-general urged the world to stop this madness, saying that the mountains are melting ice at record levels, sea levels are rising like in Greenland and Antarctica, and due to which communities are being severely affected by floods and landslides. “Glaciers are retreating, but we cannot go back. We must move forward on climate action,” he said. <\/p>\n According to Laxman Adhikari, chairman of Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality Ward No. 4, the general secretary had expressed his commitment to take the issue to COP28 with the concerns and suggestions of the locals.<\/p>\n Later, at the COP28 held in Dubai, he drew the attention of the world community that Nepal and other Himalayan countries were facing crisis that they did not have. <\/p>\n During the same visit of the Secretary-General, Prajita Karki, the chairperson of the foundation, also tried to convey to him through a video message the reality of the mountain community. This message, issued with the aim of drawing the attention of the world community to the melting of the mountains due to warming, its direct impact on local lives and the need for climate justice, was a part of the organization’s continuous efforts to convey the suffering of Nepal’s hill and mountain communities to the international leadership, who are suffering the most despite emitting negligible carbon emissions. <\/p>\n Thame Glacial Lake Outburst: Warning Reality <\/strong><\/p>\n Exactly one year after the Secretary-General’s visit, on August 16, 2024, the Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) caused a major damage in Thame village of Khumbu. According to the Kathmandu Post, the flood in the Thame River swept away mud, gravel and boulders in Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality Ward Nomb. In 5, 20 houses, a primary school and a health post were damaged, displacing 135 people. Subsequent aerial inspections confirmed that two of the five small glacial lakes above Thame had erupted. <\/p>\n The devastating floods of the Bhotekoshi <\/p>\n In August 2026, the flash flood in the Bhotekoshi River in Rasuwa caused the biggest disaster in Nepal in recent years. The flood, which started in Timure and Syaphrubesi, swept away roads, bridges and structures and devastated the Trishuli river system. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) has said that more than 1,000 bodies have been recovered so far and about 4,606 people are still missing. <\/p>\n The highest number of dead bodies have been found in Chitwan, followed by Nawalparasi East, Nawalparasi West, Nuwakot, Gorkha, Dhading, Tanahun and Rasuwa. Many bodies have been found washed hundreds of kilometers below the main flood area. The Department of Meteorology and Climate Change has concluded that this incident was also the result of a glacial lake outburst in the Lende River of Rasuwa, based on satellite imagery. This is the second time that the disaster has occurred after a similar incident in the same area in July 2025. <\/p>\n Struggle from Khumbu to Karnali and Terai <\/strong><\/p>\n Along with this, the Foundation has been conducting awareness programs in all three geographical areas of Khumbu, Karnali and Terai focusing on issues like climate justice, women empowerment, sustainable development and tourism. The nine-point ‘Gokyo Declaration’ was issued from the Gokyo Climate Conference in Khumbu, while the ‘Karnali Declaration’ was issued from the ‘Karnali Conclave’ held at Rara Lake in Mugu and expressed its commitment to take the voices of the communities of Karnali to the international climate negotiations. The organization has also been trying to bridge the gap between the local and central governments by taking the voices and evidence raised at the local level to the provincial and federal parliaments. <\/p>\n Several initiatives from the government level <\/strong><\/p>\n Amidst this series of disasters, the Government of Nepal has also taken some positive steps in the climate sector. Nepal’s Third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC 3.0), prepared under the leadership of the Ministry of Forest and Environment and submitted to the United Nations in May 2025, has an ambitious target of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by 17.12 percent by 2030 and 26.8 percent by 2035. <\/p>\n It also includes the goal of expanding renewable power capacity to 28,500 MW, increasing electrification of transport and industry, and promoting sustainable forest and waste management. Sectors such as climate-resilient agriculture, water and energy systems, disaster preparedness and tourism have also been prioritized for adaptation. Under the National Adaptation Plan (NAP), programs such as multi-hazard early warning system, integrated watershed management and glacial lake outburst (GLOF) risk reduction are also in the implementation phase, which have become even more relevant after incidents such as Thame and Bhotekoshi. In addition, the Community Forest Management Policy, which began in the 1980s, has increased Nepal’s forest cover from 26 percent in 1992 to nearly 45 percent today, which is one of the world’s most exemplary climate-friendly initiatives.<\/p>\n Nepal had also pledged to fully electrify its vehicles at COP26 held in Glasgow in 2021. <\/p>\n Guterres’ vision of Khumbu, the glacial lake eruption in Thame two years later, and the devastating floods that have now claimed more than a thousand lives in Bhotekoshi have all reinforced the secretary-general’s warnings. With the government already making many commitments at the policy level, as well as the demands of climate justice raised by organizations like the Foundation, it is now emerging that these commitments should be implemented quickly and effectively at the local level. <\/p>\n Guterres’ statement that ‘This madness must stop’ and the Bhotekoshi floods Badri Sigdel The increasing temperature every year, melting glaciers and the resulting disasters in the Himalayan region of Nepal have now crossed the warning level and are showing the country’s climate crisis as a real catastrophe. The warning of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio GuterresContinue reading “Guterres’ statement that ‘this madness must stop’ and the flood of Bhotekoshi”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":96733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-samachar-en"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/web-post_7aeed374.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96758"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96759,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96758\/revisions\/96759"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/media\/96733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} <\/p>\n
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