Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal has emphasized the need for predictable, concessional, and grant-based climate financing to address the needs of countries that are highly vulnerable to and affected by climate change.
Addressing a high-level event on “Climate Finance Needs and Access to Finance for Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries” on Friday, under the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31), currently underway in Antalya, Türkiye, Foreign Minister Khanal called on the international community to ensure easier and direct access to climate finance.
Minister Khanal noted that countries like Nepal, which have made negligible contributions to climate change, are nevertheless bearing its devastating consequences. He stressed that such countries should not be forced to take on additional debt in the name of building climate resilience.
Referring to the devastating Himalayan disaster that struck Nepal on August 26 as a “Himalayan Tsunami,” Minister Khanal said that floods triggered by sudden glacial and rock outbursts had caused massive human and physical losses. He informed the gathering that more than 1,400 people had lost their lives and over 5,000 were still missing. According to him, the final death toll could exceed 6,000.
Highlighting that the disaster had destroyed settlements, critical infrastructure, and assets equivalent to nearly 10 percent of the national economy, Minister Khanal said Nepal must put an end to the situation in which the same infrastructure has to be repeatedly rebuilt.
Minister Khanal identified three major reforms necessary to make climate finance more effective.
First, he said that since the needs of least developed countries are primarily focused on adaptation and addressing loss and damage, priority must be given to public resources and grant-based financing.
“Climate resilience must not come at the cost of debt sustainability. We do not need commercial loans; we need predictable public grants and highly concessional financial resources,” he said.
Second, he stressed the need to remove existing complicated procedures and administrative barriers to ensure direct access to climate finance. He called for financial resources to be made available through simplified and accessible procedures via the Green Climate Fund, the Adaptation Fund, the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), and the Least Developed Countries Fund.
Third, he said that financial arrangements must take into account the specific geographical and climate-related risks faced by Himalayan ecosystems, least developed countries, and small island states.
Welcoming the initiative by Türkiye and Australia, the COP31 Presidency, to establish an advisory group to support least developed countries and small island states, Minister Khanal said the process must be inclusive, transparent, and based on the recommendations of the countries affected.
“The true success of climate finance must be measured by the protection it provides to people, the resilience it builds in communities, and the development it safeguards,” he said.
Recalling his appeal during the opening session of COP31 to transform sympathy into systems and commitments into binding action, he emphasized that access to climate finance must enable vulnerable communities to achieve protection, dignity, and resilience.
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