UN Loss and Damage Fund provisionally approves $21.6 million for flood-hit Nepal

Nepal, which suffered a catastrophic debris flow and flash flood on August 26, is slated to receive $21.6 million from the United Nations’ Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD). The decision to “provisionally” release the funds was finalised during an “extraordinary meeting” convened by the Fund’s board on October 22. Nepal will still need to apply for this funding, and the Board will consider the request at its next meeting, the tenth FRLD Board meeting, this December. “Following Nepal’s formal letter on August 31, 2026 requesting support from the Fund, the FRLD Board commenced to assess available options. Backed by strong solidarity from the whole Board, intensive consultations were held throughout September and October, culminating in today’s extraordinary Board meeting, in accordance with the Board’s Rules of Procedure,” an FRLD press statement said. The FRLD was constituted in 2023 with the specific purpose of providing rapid financial support to developing countries struggling with the economic and non-economic losses and damages associated with climate-driven extreme weather events. The demand by developing countries for a funding facility for losses and damages had been simmering at the climate Conference of Parties (COP) meetings for decades. The decision to provisionally release funding to Nepal comes ahead of the COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, scheduled to take place from November 9 to November 20. Climate change was “a destabilising factor” in the Nepal flash flood, according to a report by the World Weather Attribution. The trigger was the rapid collapse of a 2-square-kilometre wall…This article was originally published on Mongabay