‘Justice not aid; India, China, US have responsibility’: Nepal minister on floods
2 min readSep 2, 2026 03:06 PM IST
Nepal Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal has launched a diplomatic push to seek climate-related compensation from greenhouse emitters for the devastation caused by the recent flash floods.
After the August 26 tragedy which resulted in the deaths of over 1,100 people, the Nepali minister said the country was shifting its diplomatic framework from “aid” to “justice and compensation”.
Post-disaster assistance should be treated as a matter of “legal and moral liability”, “not charity”, Khanal said. The remarks were made by the minister in an interview with Kantipur TV, the excerpts of which were carried by The Kathmandu Post.
Khanal blamed China, the US and India — the largest greenhouse gas emitters — and said the nations have a “historical responsibility to compensate vulnerable nations like Nepal”.
“We are shifting our diplomatic framework from “aid” to “justice and compensation”. This is not a matter of charity; it is a matter of legal and moral liability,” the Foreign Minister was cited as saying by the Nepali newspaper.
“The major industrial emitters—such as China, which is the world’s top emitter, the United States at number two, and India at number three—have a historical responsibility to compensate vulnerable nations like Nepal,” he added.
Khanal said the country’s Ministry of Finance has dispatched a formal climate compensation claim to “international partners”. He, however, didn’t elaborate if the letter was sent to the three aforementioned countries.
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Calling it a matter of “civilisational survival”, he said Nepal would be raising the issue with “absolute firmness and clarity” at every upcoming international forum.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs is yet to respond to Nepal’s assertions.
The remarks from the Foreign Minister comes at a time when Nepal Prime Minister Balendra Shah is under pressure from within the government and his Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) to lead the country’s delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in New York and seek international support following the country’s worst flood disaster.
The government has urged the prime minister to use the UNGA forum to seek climate justice for Nepal, international support for post-disaster rehabilitation and reconstruction, and a stronger global response to protect the Himalayan ecosystem.
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