Nepal: A newly formed lake is sparking fears of more flooding along the Chinese border

Nepalis and Tibetans must not pay the price – with their lives, livelihoods and money meant for education and health – for global heating caused by wealthy states Sunil Acharya is an international climate policy and just transition specialist based in Kathmandu, Nepal As a Nepali citizen working on international climate policy for more than a decade, it is difficult to look at the harrowing images coming out of the catastrophic flash flood that thundered down valleys in Nepal, sweeping down the Lhende Khola, Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers, and not feel angry. Not just because of the destruction, but because it comes after years of warnings from scientists and civil society that a rapidly warming planet would make disasters more frequent, more intense and harder to predict. This is what the cost of delaying global climate action looks like. Sunil Acharya is an international climate policy and just transition specialist based in Kathmandu, Nepal..

Annette Young is pleased to welcome Gareth Redmond-King, Head of the International Programme at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit. He warns we are entering a period in which climate change is not only intensifying extreme weather but adding greater instability to the climate system itself. Natural phenomena such as El Niño will then amplify, and intensify, that disruption, effectively “fanning the flames of climate change” and making already dangerous extremes even more severe. For Europe, this means that the extreme heat, drought, water shortages, storms and flash flooding we are experiencing should no longer be regarded as exceptional. They are increasingly part of a new normal for which governments remain inadequately prepared.

As the climate continues to warm, scientists warn that the frequency of disasters like the floods in Nepal will increase.