Climate14 October, 20263 min read
FRLD Board To Decide On Provisionally Setting Aside $20 Million For Nepal Flood Recovery
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FRLD board to consider provisional $20 million for Nepal flood recovery on Oct 22 Draft decision prepared by a diverse group of board members; expected to pass easily
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FRLD considers Nepal $20m
The Board of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) will decide on Thursday on whether to “provisionally set aside” $20 million for Nepal to deal with some of the effects of the climate-driven flood it suffered in August. The draft motion invites the government of Nepal to submit a proposal for how to use the money, with the board then deciding at one of its regular board meetings whether to approve the proposal or not. The FRLD’s first-ever extraordinary board meeting is scheduled for October 22, and the draft decision says Nepal’s proposal will serve as a pilot for how funding requests can be submitted outside of the fund’s current timetable.
Nepal’s finance and environment ministers appealed to the FRLD board for funds, saying that “time is of the essence,” after a glacial rock and ice collapse sent a torrent of water and debris through Nepal and the Chinese-administered region of Tibet on August 26. The FRLD was agreed in 2022 and operationalised at COP28 in 2023, and the fund has not yet awarded any money while it considers 180 projects estimated to cost around $2.8 billion against $350 million available to allocate.
Pilot mechanism and criticism
The draft decision states that Nepal’s appeal will serve as a pilot for submitting applications outside the fund’s current schedule, and it would allow governments to seek funds quickly after a climate disaster strikes rather than waiting for the next call. The FRLD previously accepted requests only through one call for proposals launched at COP30 in Belém last November, and that call gave countries six months to submit requests. The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres described the amount of money available in the fund as “ridiculously small,” while Fill the Fund said $20 million “is a meaningful signal but it is a drop against an ocean of need”.
Fill the Fund argued that Nepal should not have required “historic letters, an informal drafting group and the Fund's first-ever extraordinary meeting simply to unlock an emergency response.” The draft decision also frames the Nepal case as the first time the FRLD has set aside money for a specific disaster, after the fund had only taken requests through its timetable until now.
Community giving and disaster relief
In the United States, the Nepali community in North Alabama raised $50,000 for families affected by the devastating Bhotekoshi flood in Nepal and deposited it in the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund. Ravi Lama, president of the Nepali Association in North Alabama, said the fundraiser reflected the community’s unity, generosity and continued bond with the homeland, despite living thousands of miles away. The Nepali Association in North Alabama held a prayer and candle-lighting in solidarity with flood victims in Nepal before the donation was deposited.
In Colorado, Nepali Jatra planned a free screening of Festivals at the Longmont Museum on Tuesday, October 20, with a question-and-answer session with Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Jaswant Dev Shrestha. Yellow Scene Magazine said one hundred percent of funds raised through the screening would go to Nepal’s Prime Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund through the Longmont Community Foundation, and it listed the event address as 400 Quail Road, Longmont, CO 80501.