- Sunday, 4 October 2026
New York, Oct 3: The UN Headquarters, New York, witnessed a thorough debate on climate change, its impacts, and justice during the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly on the fourth week of September, 2026.
Prominent figures from nearly 200 countries, including government leaders, heads of State, foreign ministers, prominent personalities in diplomacy, and activists advocating for climate justice had actively participated in the debate.
U.S. President Donald Trump, UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, among others, drew global attention with their addresses.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres focused on climate change, war, poverty, and artificial intelligence in his speech this time.
During his speech, press conferences, and bilateral meetings, some of Guterres’ frustrations were visible, as he has led the UN continuously for ten years.
Globally, due to war, supply chains are facing difficulties, leading to problems like price hikes and malnutrition.
Number of citizens trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty around the world has been increasing significantly.
On the other hand, he also focused on the problems caused by climate change in the world and its multi-faceted impacts on the lives and livelihood of the general people.
Recalling his visit to Nepal regarding its impact, he said, “Three years ago, when I stood in Nepal, home to the highest peak Everest, I said that the roof of the world is falling.
But people called it an exaggeration. I had told the world even then to focus on studying the effects of climate change, but the world today still does not seem ready to do so.”
Secretary-General Guterres also highlighted that the world has seen how Nepal suffered losses of lives and property due to climate change. His statement was targeted at the unimaginable human, material, and infrastructure damage caused by the flood on September 10 last year.
What made his words important was that scientists’ studies and available evidence show how severe the effects of climate change can be.
Another important aspect, as he mentioned, was that every member State needs to act according to its commitments.
Specifically, world leaders explained in their own ways issues like global war, the threat of nuclear weapons, extreme poverty, the world being trapped in climate crises, the rapid expansion of information technology, nuclear disarmament, and the goals of sustainable development. Neighboring Bangladesh was focused more on the Rohingya refugee issue than other matters, while African countries strongly raised participation in the UN Security Council.
On the other hand, the U.S. President, who came to address the first day of the high-level political debate, didn’t just speak about America’s power in the world; he also expressed strong aggression about the recent Iran-America tension.
His speech was mostly about conflicts. In his speech, neither was the issue of climate change raised like that of Secretary-General Guterres, nor was there a discussion about the impact of rising sea levels that the world might face in the near future.
Nepal’s participation and activism Nepal’s participation and activism this time in the General Assembly saw Prime Minister Balendra Shah raising the issue of climate change as a high priority, and Nepal shared the climate-related challenges it faces.
This not only highlighted the state of climate change impacts that Nepal has unnecessarily suffered on the global stage, but also brought our problems and constraints to the forefront once again.
Nepal’s appeal for climate justice reached the world again, forcing the global community to think about us and recognize the urgency.
Prime Minister Shah pointed out that Nepal’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, a key factor behind climate change, is just 0.1 percent, yet the country has had to face serious impacts.
He made it clear that under climate justice, climate finance should be provided, and loss and damage compensation should come as grants, not loans that Nepal cannot bear.
This time, Nepal’s presentation also further exposed the fact that developed countries have not acted upon according to their pledges.
Prime Minister Shah also emphasized that South Asian countries with the largest populations in the world need to face the climate crisis through a joint mechanism.
It can be expected that this will put additional pressure on countries around the world to make essential and emergency decisions.
As in the past, Nepal this time also emphasized on holding bilateral meetings, multilateral participation, and sideline meetings.
Nepal’s delegates, including Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal, Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai, and Nepal’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York Lok Bahadur Thapa were active and busy in holding several meetings at bilateral and multilateral levels.
Paying attention to Nepal, as a country directly experiencing the impacts of the climate crisis, it was evident that those gathered in New York from around the world were interested.
Expectations and the future
The rich countries in the world now are betting on and making leaps in artificial intelligence rather than climate change.
Their pressing concerns were – whether technology can be successfully kept in a human-centered framework or not.
While delegates from around the globe were debating in New York, the presidents of the global superpower America and the rising power China were busy discussing their agendas in Washington DC.
In today’s world, it’s time to look for ways to solve problems collectively through a multilateral and multi-polar systems.
After all, Earth is a shared home for eight billion people. Ensuring easy access to the minimum necessary goods and services for them is the main challenge right now.
If artificial intelligence leads to complex diseases, extreme unemployment, or even hunger, in coming days, how will the UN work with its member countries in trust at that time?
To that end, the UN must take initiatives now to work according to plans to tackle all existing problems, and countries around the world need to cooperate in a meticulous manner. If the effects of climate change, like a flood or landslide in Nepal four weeks ago, were to hit the ocean’s surface and lower Manhattan in the next two or three decades, or if heavy snowfall around the General Assembly building forces the assembly to be postponed, only then will people wake up.
So, if countries that aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions come together and create strong pressure at the upcoming General Assembly, climate justice can be achieved for Nepal as well as other environmentally vulnerable, least developed, and undeveloped. —-
Madhukar Adhikari / RSS
