KATHMANDU, OCTOBER 1
While the nationwide downpours have caused widespread damage to humans and animals and wrecked the economy, environmental experts have examined the devastation through the lens of climate change.
According to them, the recent relentless rainfall, which resulted in massive losses of human and other resources in Nepal during the same week that the monsoon was predicted, appears to be a result of climate change.
Another case is that the state's inadequate response despite advance warning resulted in significant human losses.
When the Himalayan Times asked Pema Gyamtsho, Director General of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), if there was a link between recent rain, flooding, and damage across the country and climate change, he responded, "Yes, it is definitely linked to climate change."
He stated that, as the number of seasonal events increases, their power exceeds our carrying capacity, implying that there are clear links to climate change.
"The recent unprecedented flooding across Nepal due to incessant rainfall is a grim reminder to all that climate change is real and that its catastrophic impacts on our lives and livelihoods can no longer be ignored. We must immediately move beyond mere rhetorical statements to taking meaningful actions on the ground to not only accelerate mitigation measures but also to adapt to the new and emerging realities," he said.
Furthermore, ICIMOD stated that, while Nepal contributes 0.1% of global emissions from the use of fossil fuels, the country is the fourth most climate-vulnerable in the world. By 2030, climate change-related river flooding could affect more than a third of a million people in Nepal each year.
While climate change is affecting the amount and timing of rainfall throughout Asia, scientists believe that the built environment, particularly unplanned construction on floodplains, is a major contributor to the increased impact of floods.
They have urged central governments and city planners to invest in and plan for both 'grey' (engineered) and 'green' (nature-based) infrastructure, such as underground stormwater and sewage systems, as well as the restoration of wetlands or the implementation of permeable pavements and 'rain gardens', in order to increase cities' capacity to absorb water and assist communities to adapt.
"This unprecedented rain has fallen on soil already saturated following a more than 25% above normal rainfall this monsoon in Kathmandu. Its impact is aggravated by poor drainage due to unplanned settlement/haphazard urbanisation, construction on floodplains, a lack of areas for water retention, and encroachment on the Bagmati River," reads the statement of ICIMOD.
Meanwhile, extreme floods from two consecutive heavy monsoon years have caused devastation in many parts of the Hindu Kush Himalaya region in 2023 and 2024, and a recent climate scientist analysis shows that Asia's exposure to extreme rain and flood risk will increase by 2030.
Furthermore, several scientists and publications have reported abnormal patterns in the monsoon trend in recent years. As a result, analysing such weather trends in relation to climate change is critical for effective warning, protection, rescue, and relief efforts.
Since last Thursday, the Kathmandu Valley has received the most rainfall in nearly five and a half decades, according to weather reports.
"I've never before seen flooding on this scale in Kathmandu," said Arun Bhakta Shrestha, Climate and Environmental Risks Lead at the Hindu Kush Himalayan Knowledge Centre, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).
Similarly, elderly people who have lived in Kathmandu for a long period of time also claimed that the "recent flood is the biggest after 1994."
Kumaltar, in the Kathmandu Valley, received 381.2 and Godavari received 346.6 mm in rains that set in early on Thursday. Large areas of Nepal were projected to see rainfall in the "extremely heavy rainfall" category (over 200 mm) on both Friday and Saturday.
