NGO Forum on ADB Solidarity Statement for the people of Nepal
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
NGO Forum on ADB stands in solidarity with the people of Nepal and mourns the loss and damage caused by the deadly disaster that hit the nation. Our thoughts are with the families searching for the missing, and with the communities now facing the urgent work of recovery. The scale of loss demands an urgent, timely, and community-centered response that addresses immediate needs for relief and recovery, restores access to basic services, and supports families as they rebuild their homes and livelihoods.
Forum also stands firm that this is nothing short of climate violence. The region is now bearing the disproportionate impacts of the climate crisis. From the glacial collapse and flash floods now devastating Nepal, to the forest fires in Indonesia and flooding in the Philippines. Communities that have contributed the least to the climate emergency are paying the highest price, and the polluters and institutions that enabled this crisis must be held accountable.
Recovery support for Nepal must not be debt-creating. Doing so shifts the cost of survival onto the very communities already bearing the brunt of the flooding. We condemn any attempt by the multilateral development banks (MDB) and other financial institutions to respond to this catastrophe with loans packaged as relief. Offering loans rather than grants in the immediate aftermath of a climate disaster is clearly an appalling way of profiting from catastrophe, and it must be named and rejected as such.
Forum also reaffirms its longstanding position that continued MDB financing of fossil fuels and large hydropower has no place in the worsening climate crisis. The Forum has long documented the harms caused by ADB-financed large hydropower in Nepal, including the Tanahu Hydropower Project, where indigenous Magar communities have faced unresolved land and livelihood impacts and inadequate free, prior, and informed consent. The same is the case with the multiple HPPs financed by the various MDBs, including the Upper Trishuli HPP, which are directly impacted by the recent catastrophe. These cases reflect a broader pattern across the Himalayas, where repeated expert warnings about the fragility of glacial and mountain ecosystems have gone unheeded in the continued push for ever-larger dams.
We call on the ADB and broader MDBs to end all fossil fuel finance in Nepal and the region, and to cancel ongoing and pipeline large hydropower projects, pending a full, independent, and community-led assessment of their climate, environmental, and social risks. The Banks must be held accountable for the harms already caused by past and ongoing financing of these false solutions. We call for a people-centered recovery for Nepal, built on international solidarity, on resources that heal rather than indebt, and on the power of the communities rebuilding their homes and their future.
