UN chief Guterres urges urgent action as Himalayan glaciers melt, says COP28 talks must respond

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a stark warning about the impending crisis in the Himalayas, emphasising the critical need for action at the ongoing climate talks. Guterres urged the conference, especially developed nations, to address the pressing needs of vulnerable mountain countries facing the rapid melting of glaciers. Approximately 240 million people rely on these glaciers and major rivers like the Indus, Ganga, and Brahmaputra, affecting another billion downstream in eight countries, including India. Addressing a meeting with mountain countries at this year’s Conference of Parties (COP28), Guterres emphasised that nearly a third of Nepal’s ice had vanished in just over 30 years, and it was directly linked to greenhouse gas pollution that heats up the planet. Guterres, who visited Nepal, including the Everest region, in October last week, called for developed countries to clarify the delivery of USD 100 billion and produce a plan to double adaptation finance to USD 40 billion a year by 2025. “But those sums are dwarfed by the scale of what’s needed”, he said and advocated for reform in International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to better cater to the needs of developing countries like Nepal. “So, we need the outcome of this COP to call for reform of the IFIs so that they reflect today’s world and are far more responsive to the needs of developing countries and for reform of the business models of the MDBs so that they can leverage far more private finance at reasonable cost to the developing countries,” he told the gathering. He said unless there is a change in course, a catastrophe can be unleashed. “The glaciers could disappear altogether. That means massively reduced flows for major Himalayan rivers such as the Indus, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra. Deltas decimated by saltwater,” Guterres said. With inputs from PTI