Decades of progress on poverty and hunger are being reversed in large parts of the world.  

Inflation is undermining household and national budgets.  Families and countries alike face financial crisis.  

Women are under-represented and underpaid.

Violence and conflict abound. 

As geopolitical tensions rise, global divisions are becoming deeper and more dangerous.  

Smaller countries fear becoming collateral damage in competition between the great powers.   

And climate catastrophe is accelerating with a deadly force.  

In responding to these crises, the world could learn much from Nepal.  

This country is a promoter of peace, a champion of multilateralism and a staunch supporter of sustainable development and climate action. 

Nestled between two great powers, it has forged its own path to safeguard its sovereignty and its independence.  

A new republic with a new Constitution has the UN Charter at its heart.  

It was quick to embrace the Sustainable Development Goals and are making progress on many of them independent of the difficult financial conditions that developing countries face in today’s unfair world.

And the country has successfully calmed the storms of conflict and moved from war to peace. A process the United Nations has been proud to support. 

Its graduation from Least Developed Country status is imminent and the United Nations is committed to supporting a smooth transition. 

This relatively small country compared to big powers has made an outsized contribution to international peace:  

Of all the countries on Earth, Nepal is the second largest contributor of troops to United Nations’ missions, military and police.   

On climate action, Nepal is a frontrunner. It is on target to reach net zero emissions by 2045.  

Thanks to extraordinary reforestation efforts, trees now cover almost half of the country.  

And it is one of the pioneers of the Early Warning Systems for All Initiative — which aims to protect every person on Earth by 2027.  

Nepal contributes a minimal fraction of a percent, 0.000 percent, to global emissions. But monsoons, storms and landslides are growing in force and ferocity — sweeping away crops, livestock and entire villages — decimating economies and ruining lives.  

In August, landslides caused by heavy rains caused devastation and killed scores of people.  

And glaciers are melting at record levels. Nepal has lost close to a third of its ice in just over 30 years.  

Himalayan glaciers provide fresh water to well over a billion people. As they shrink, so do river flows.  

Nepal is now one of the countries that is suffering the most but other south Asian countries might become in the future terrible victims of the receding glaciers of Nepal.

What is happening in this country as a result of climate change is an appalling injustice and a searing indictment of the fossil fuel age.   

I urge leaders to act on climate without delay — with the biggest emitters leading from the front. 

All countries must put the Acceleration Agenda I have proposed into effect, to limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius.  

And they must make COP28 count, with a strong outcome building on the so-called Global Stocktake. 

And also, we need to deliver climate justice: Developed countries must honor the promise of $100 billion a year to support developing countries in climate; and double adaptation finance, as a first step in devoting half of climate finance to adaptation. 

The most vulnerable must be at the center of efforts to build climate resilience.

Investment in the resilience of communities, in the resilience of infrastructure, is today a must because climate change impacts are not a problem of the future, they are felt today by the populations. And it is today that developed countries must support countries like Nepal to do the necessary investments in that regard.

Excerpts from the UN Secretary-General’s remarks at the Nepalese Parliament, 31 October 2023.