Nepal, Sept. 25 -- Nepal's Prime Minister Balendra Shah's speech at the UN General Assembly in New York was unusually forthright in its assessment of climate change risks in Nepal. Shah showed himself to be surprisingly adroit in deploying the facts and figures, especially from ICIMOD's recent reports, to make his case. His remarks struck me as thoughtful, nuanced, and compelling.

Shah called for a Himalayan Climate Resilience Mechanism that brings together China, India and Nepal to coordinate on climate-resilient development. Such a mechanism, he proposed, should facilitate the sharing of satellite imagery, early-warning systems, climate-change-induced disaster monitoring and response, and post-event humanitarian assistance.

Nepal's ND...