KATHMANDU: Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Biraj Bhakta Shrestha has said that the crisis caused by climate change in the Himalayan region is not limited to the geographical boundaries of any one country.

In his address to the high-level regional dialogue on ‘From Mt. Everest to the Ocean’ organized by the government of Nepal and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) in Bangkok on Thursday, he called for global collaboration for mountain conservation.

Representatives of 53 countries have endorsed four proposals presented by Nepal to the international community for mitigating the impact of climate change and for the management of trans-boundary disaster risks, according to Minister Shrestha’s Secretariat.

Nepal has stressed the need for collaboration among the international space agency, scientific institutions and the government to develop a multi-disaster early warning system based on satellite, artificial intelligence (AI) and modern technology for monitoring vulnerable cliff and glaciers in the mountainous region.

Minister Shrestha said that Prime Minister Balendra Shah proposed the ‘Himalayan Climate Resilience Mechanism’ for information exchange, monitoring of glacial lakes and coordination among early information systems in the mountainous region.

Minister Shrestha stressed the need for immediate financial assistance for disaster risk reduction, preparedness and recovery, which should be accessible and grant-based.

He was of the view that grants should be provided for monitoring and early warning in high mountainous areas and investments from riverine hydropower projects to bordering cities should be taken into account the risks from source to sea.