Nepal, Sept. 13 -- The Earth is warming at an alarming rate, and glaciers are retreating. Somewhere in the developed world, policymakers are still busy calculating GDP growth, energy demand and economic returns. In Nepal, a country of around 30 million people that accounted for roughly 0.01 percent of global fossil-fuel and industrial carbon dioxide emissions, communities are weeping and picking through the debris left behind by a climate crisis they did not create.

On August 26, a torrent of water, rocks and mud tore through Nepal's Rasuwa district. Preliminary assessments by ICIMOD indicate that an ice-rock avalanche high in the Langtang-Lhende Khola area likely entered the river system and may have temporarily blocked the river before...