The Fund for responding to Loss and Damage provisionally set aside the sum after an August avalanche triggered floods, weeks before COP31 in Türkiye.

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• The Board of the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage provisionally set aside US$21.6 million for Nepal, its first allocation to a specific country.
• The allocation responds to an ice-and-rock avalanche on 26 August 2026 that triggered debris flows and floods along the Bhotekoshi–Trishuli–Narayani river system.
• The amount includes US$1.6 million in oversight fees, against recovery needs of US$4.71 billion, or about 0.5%.
• The Fund was established at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh (2022), with operational arrangements agreed at COP28 in Dubai (2023).
• The World Bank is the interim trustee, and the Board's seat is in the Philippines.
• Pledges exceed US$820 million, of which US$342 million is for the start-up phase.
• The Fund has received 176 requests from 119 countries, worth about US$2.8 billion.
• The Bhotekoshi rises in Tibet and becomes the Trishuli in Nepal, which joins the Narayani; this enters India as the Gandak and joins the Ganga near Patna.
• Warming destabilises ice and rock on steep slopes, a shared risk for the Indian Himalaya, as seen at Chamoli (2021) and Sikkim's South Lhonak GLOF (2023).
• Pledges fall far short of estimated annual losses, and money is released only after project proposals are cleared, which is slow for emergency relief.
• Nepal, which cited its Least Developed Country status when seeking support, is due to graduate from that category in November 2026.
• COP31 opens in Türkiye in November 2026.

Tags: LossAndDamageFund, Nepal, COP31