- Published
Nepal's Prime Minister Balendra Shah used much of his speech at the recent UN General Assembly to warn of the growing threat of climate-related disasters in the Himalayas, recalling the devastating debris floods that struck his country in August.
But it was his ambitious proposal to bring together regional rivals India and China, alongside Nepal, to tackle these shared threats that drew particular attention.
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that → publish → attention
Shah called for the creation of a Himalayan Climate Resilience Mechanism to strengthen cross-border disaster response and the sharing of scientific data and expertise in one of the world's most environmentally fragile and geopolitically sensitive regions.
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Shah → call → regions
"Let the Himalayas become a laboratory of international co-operation rather than a frontier of fragmented information," he said.
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he → let → information
A senior official at Nepal's foreign ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the proposal was still at an early stage.
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proposal → speak → stage
"The PM's proposal has given a political direction.
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proposal → give → direction
Our ministry is working with other relevant agencies to put forward a preliminary framework which can be the basis for building common understanding," the official said.
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official → work → understanding
Neither India nor China has formally responded to the proposal.
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India → respond → proposal
The BBC has contacted their foreign ministries for comment.
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BBC → contact → comment
But can Nepal really bring the two regional giants together to confront a shared climate threat in a region where they have long been locked in bitter territorial disputes?
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they → bring → disputes
India and China share a disputed frontier stretching roughly 3,500km (2,175 miles), much of it across the Himalayas.
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India → share → Himalayas
Their competing territorial claims have led to a war, deadly clashes and repeated military stand-offs along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de facto boundary separating areas under their control.
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claims → compete → control
But the mountains that have long been a source of friction between the two countries are also facing an urgent climate threat.
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that → face → threat
Temperatures in the Himalayan region are rising faster than the global average, accelerating glacier retreat and permafrost thaw and contributing to growing risks of landslides, rockfalls, avalanches and glacial lake outburst floods.
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Temperatures → rise → landslides
Such disasters can sweep across national boundaries, threatening lives, infrastructure and livelihoods far downstream - making co-operation between the countries sharing the Himalayas increasingly important.
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operation → sweep → Himalayas
A report by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, external released in March found that glaciers across the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region are melting at an accelerating pace, with the rate of ice loss having doubled since 2000 compared with the 1974-1999 period.
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rate → release → period
Further east, on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, glaciers have shrunk by 24% in area over the past six decades, Kang Shichang, director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, told China's People's Daily Online.
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Shichang → shrink → Online
Experts say the retreat of glaciers can cause glacial lakes to expand, increasing the risk of sudden, potentially devastating floods that can cross borders into countries such as Nepal, India and Bhutan.
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that → say → Nepal
Several major rivers flowing through these countries originate on the Tibetan Plateau.
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rivers → flow → Plateau
The plateau now has more than 14,000 glacial lakes, covering over 1,100 sq km, according to People's Daily.
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plateau → have → Daily
And the dangers extend beyond flooding.
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dangers → extend → flooding
A 2024 study published by the American Geophysical Union projected a significant rise in landslide hazards across the Himalayas and Tibet in the coming decades due to increased rainstorms.
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study → publish → rainstorms
While the largest absolute increases are expected in already vulnerable areas, including India's Garhwal and Kumaon regions and Nepal, the greatest relative increase is projected on the Tibetan Plateau.
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increase → expect → Plateau
The growing risks make co-operation more urgent.
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operation → grow → ?
But past efforts by India and China to work together on Himalayan environmental issues have made little progress.
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efforts → work → progress
The two Asian powers have often found common ground at UN climate negotiations, pushing back against Western demands for emissions cuts and arguing that developing countries should not bear the same burden as industrialised nations.
Yet they have no dedicated agreement to jointly address the impacts of climate change in the Himalayas.
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they → find → Himalayas
In 2009, India and China agreed to undertake joint research into the impact of global warming on glaciers in the Himalayas and Tibet.
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India → agree → Himalayas
Following a visit to Beijing, India's then environment minister Jairam Ramesh announced that the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology and China's Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute would collaborate on the project.
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Institute → follow → project
But the initiative went nowhere, according to a scientist involved in the effort.
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initiative → go → effort
"One meeting was held between us and the Chinese side and that was it, nothing came out of it," said Dr DP Dobhal, a retired glaciologist who headed the glaciology programme at the Wadia Institute.
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who → hold → Institute
"What happened after that no one knows," he added.
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he → happen → that
Since the early 2000s, India and China had agreements under which Beijing provided flood-season hydrological data on the Brahmaputra and Sutlej, two major rivers originating in Tibet.
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Beijing → have → Tibet
But in August 2025, India's junior foreign minister Kirti Vardhan Singh told parliament that both agreements had expired.
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agreements → tell → parliament
China had stopped sharing data on the Brahmaputra in June 2023, while India had received no data on the Sutlej since 2022.
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India → stop → 2022
China has not publicly explained the latest interruption.
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China → explain → interruption
But when it withheld similar information in 2017, amid a tense military stand-off with India, Beijing blamed technical problems at its hydrological monitoring stations in Tibet, Singh said.
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Singh → withhold → Tibet
Some analysts see a glimmer of hope in the recent thaw between India and China, marked by high-level political engagement and moves to revive cross-border trade through Himalayan routes.
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analysts → see → routes
"These developments suggest there might be more room for the three countries to explore climate-related co-operation," says William Yang, senior analyst for North East Asia at the International Crisis Group.
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Yang → suggest → Group
But he says Beijing is likely to remain cautious about any major agreement with India and Nepal, as border disputes remain unresolved.
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disputes → say → India
One major obstacle is that information vital for understanding climate risks can also have military value.
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information → understand → value
"What climate scientists might see as essential research data might look like strategic intelligence to the national security establishment in an environment where two militaries face each other across a disputed frontier," says Walter Ladwig, an associate fellow in the Indo-Pacific Programme at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a UK-based defence and security think tank.
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Ladwig → see → Institute
…and 8 more, not listed.
The Aporia
