Nepal’s prime minister scolded fellow world leaders Thursday, saying the nation’s recent deadly flood reminds a warming world that climate change keeps hurting people who didn’t cause the crisis but now need help.
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who → scold → help
And I ask you today: Have you really heard that warning?” Nepali Prime Minister Balendra Shah said at the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday night.
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Shah → ask → night
“Nearly three years ago, standing in the shadow of our Mount Everest, the secretary-general of the United Nations warned about humanity about the madness and impending climate disaster.”
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general → stand → madness
“That cry from the rooftop of the world was not heard enough,” Shah said.
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Shah → hear → world
“We in Nepal heard it.
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We → hear → it
Our communities heard it.
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communities → hear → it
Scientists around the world heard it.
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Scientists → hear → it
They repeated it with evidence.
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They → repeat → evidence
But we, the political leaders, have been negligent to translate those warnings in action at the speed and scale that the vulnerable people require.
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people → translate → that
International scientists have connected melting permafrost from climate — caused by burning coal, oil and gas — to the instability of the glacier, which partly collapsed and triggered a massive flood that has killed at least 1,400 people with even more still missing.
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more → connect → people
Shah said that Nepal contributed less than one-tenth of 1% of the heat-trapping gases behind climate change.
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Nepal → say → change
About 99% of Nepal’s electricity comes from hydropower, and many workers were trapped in tunnels by the flooding.
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workers → come → flooding
“We did not create this crisis, yet we are paying a colossal price for it,” said Shah, 36, a former rapper and engineer who is the youngest head of government to address the General Assembly this year.
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who → create → Assembly
“Our glaciers are retreating, our mountain slopes are becoming unstable, our rivers are becoming less predictable, and every major disaster threatens to erase years of development.”
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disaster → retreat → development
He said climate change ‘does not recognize borders’
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change → say → borders
In a black Dhaka topi, a traditional brimless Nepali hat, Shah spoke while wearing his signature dark sunglasses, which he uses for medical reasons.
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he → speak → reasons
He said “the tragic consequences of a warming climate” tells the world that “climate change does not recognize borders.
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change → say → borders
Glaciers and floods do not travel with stamps and passports.”
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Glaciers → travel → stamps
Subeksha Khadka, a humanitarian and former Miss Nepal International, in an online interview, praised Shah’s speech and echoed the warning: “This time Nepal has been on the target, but it could be anyone.
uncertain
it → praise → target
So it’s time to act.”
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it → ’ → ?
Shah didn’t ask for a specific amount in aid, but he called the international financial aid system inadequate and too bureaucratic.
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he → ask → system
This included a loss and damage fund agreed upon a few years ago for poor nations hit by climate disasters not of their own making.
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This → include → making
“Climate finance must not become another bureaucratic maze through which vulnerable countries spend years” maneuvering through when they need help.
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they → become → help
“When the house is burning, we do not ask a family to complete 50 forms.
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we → burn → forms
We act.
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We → act → ?
This is what climate justice means.”
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justice → mean → what
He exhorted the General Assembly to act on relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction — which are traditional international help concepts — but also “responsibility, reparation, resilience.”
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which → exhort → relief
Reparation is a word and an issue that rankles industrial western nations like the United States, which is historically the world’s biggest carbon emitter.
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which → rankle → States
He says it’s ‘not an isolated disaster’
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it → say → ?
Over the past 75 years, the United States has spewed about 1,500 times more carbon into the air than Nepal has, according to the Global Carbon Project, a group of scientists that track greenhouse gas emissions by countries.
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that → spew → countries
Historical emissions matter because carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for more than a century trapping heat.
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dioxide → matter → heat
The U.S. this week announced $31 million in aid to Nepal for flood recovery, which bring America’s total financial help up to $36 million.
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which → announce → million
It’s less than 1% of what they need.
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they → ’ → what
“Preliminary assessments indicate that from recent disaster alone, Nepal has suffered loss of over $5 billion, nearly 15% of our GDP and a third of our annual budget,” Shisir Khanal, Nepal’s foreign minister, said Wednesday at the UN climate summit.
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Khanal → indicate → summit
It is a development emergency dismantling years of progress.
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It → dismantle → progress
It is a justice crisis exposing the inequities of global climate action and it is an existential crisis striking at the very survival of our communities and our future.”
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it → expose → communities
“What happened in Nepal is not an isolated disaster but a preview of what awaits many vulnerable nations,” Khanal said.
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Khanal → happen → nations
Former United States Vice President Al Gore said in an interview that Nepal’s disaster shows that the climate crisis “was getting worse much faster” than people can handle and foreshadows problems with melting glaciers that feed all of the great rivers of Asia, putting the water supply of 2 billion people at risk.
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Delgado reported from New York.
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Delgado → say → York
Associated Press writer Jennifer McDermott contributed to this report.
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McDermott → contribute → report
The Aporia
