Nepal PM proposes establishing Himalayan Climate Resilience Mechanism with India, China

In his first address to the UN General Assembly, Nepal's Prime Minister Balen Shah proposed a new trilateral framework — a Himalayan Climate Resilience Mechanism — bringing together India, China, and Nepal. The idea is to coordinate adaptation and disaster response across a region where glaciers are retreating, monsoon patterns are shifting, and landslides and floods are becoming more frequent and severe. Shah told world leaders that a warming climate is destabilising the fragile Himalayan ecology, with consequences that reach far beyond the mountains. The proposal faces obvious diplomatic hurdles: India and China are rivals, and both have territorial disputes with Nepal. But Shah framed it as a necessity, not a choice. The Himalayas supply water to billions of people. If the glaciers fail, the effects will cascade through South Asia's rivers, farms, and cities. Whether the mechanism becomes reality is another question — but the warning is hard to ignore.