At 36, Nepal's Prime Minister Balendra Shah stood before the United Nations this week to demand that wealthy, carbon-heavy nations answer for the suffering they have exported to vulnerable countries like his own — a morally coherent argument made complicated by the fact that thousands of his citizens remain dead or missing in floodwaters back home. His presence in New York captures a tension as old as leadership itself: the pull between the long arc of justice and the immediate weight of grief. Nepal, responsible for less than a fraction of a percent of global emissions, is living proof of the
Nepal's Young Leader Pushes Climate Reparations at U.N. Amid Domestic Criticism
Devastating floods in Nepal left thousands dead or missing, creating humanitarian crisis amid political leadership questions.