Remarks by Hon. Mr. Shisir Khanal at the High-Level Event on “Early Warnings for All: Delivering on Our Promise to Protect Everyone”

Remarks by Hon. Mr. Shisir Khanal at the High-Level Event on “Early Warnings for All: Delivering on Our Promise to Protect Everyone”

11 November 2026 | 17:00-18:30 hrs. |

Meeting Room 3, Topkapi |

Mr. Secretary-General,

Excellencies.

Namaste!

Nepal warmly welcomes the launch of the 2026 Global Status Report on Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems. We commend the Secretary-General for his leadership on the Early Warnings for All initiative—a vital manifestation of practical, life-saving multilateralism in action. We express gratitude to Secretary-General as Nepal was one of the 30 initial pilot countries for the Initiative.

Even as we celebrate what has been achieved, emerging scientific reality is sobering. The Himalayas—the water tower sustaining nearly two billion people downstream—risk losing up to 80 percent of their glaciers this century. Our fragile cryosphere has already lost one-third of its ice in just three decades.

For mountain communities, early warning is not a technical abstraction; it is the raw line between survival and peril.

On August 26th, an abrupt, high-altitude glacial and rock collapse unleashed what we have termed a ‘Himalayan Tsunami’. In minutes, a sediment-choked wall of water obliterated critical highways, communities, clinics, and clean hydropower plants. 

In early minutes of disaster, our early warning system sent millions of SMS and downstream community did receive localized warnings but it wasn’t enough.

With over 1450 lives lost and over 5000 still un-accounted for, the death toll could exceed over 6,000. 

Early report indicates reconstruction requirement to be about five billion dollars, about 10% of Nepal’s economy.

Cascading mountain hazards expose the utter inadequacy of conventional warning models. 

Mitigation and Adaptation is a matter of pure climate justice.

To turn warning into universal protection, Nepal urges four decisive actions:

• Reimagine forecasting for cascading risks: We must close high-altitude observation gaps by deploying real-time telemetry, satellite remote sensing, and cryosphere monitoring tailored for complex terrain.
• Prioritize the last mile first: Science must translate into accessible, local-language alerts that reach isolated mountain settlements in minutes, backed by institutionalized anticipatory action and community evacuation plans.
• Deepen transboundary data sharing: Under Nepal’s Sagarmatha to the Sea framework, upstream peaks and downstream valleys belong to one continuum. We need depoliticized, cross-border hydrological data sharing across entire river basins.
• Deliver predictable, grant-based finance: Universal protection by 2027 cannot be built on debt or end in 2027. We must mobilize dedicated, grant-based financing and technology transfer for vulnerable nations.

Early warnings must not end as unheeded alarms. Let us match the speed of climate disasters with the speed of our shared resolve.

Thank you. Namaste.