Nepal held a special climate event at the United Nations in New York today on September 25. The event was called " Sagarmatha to the Sea: A Call to Action for a Climate-Resilient Future." Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal led the event working together with Bhutan, the Maldives, New Zealand, Samoa and Tajikistan aiming to link the climate risks facing Himalayan mountain communities with those facing low-lying island and coastal nations.
The event began with a short video showing the damage from the Bhotekoshi flood. Khanal then spoke to everyone gathered. Officials from Nepal, the UN, and the partner countries were present at the event. He thanked Bhutan, the Maldives, New Zealand, Samoa and Tajikistan, along with two UN groups, UNEP and ESCAP for joining saying their partnership brought mountain, island and coastal perspectives into one conversation.
He described the event's core premise directly " The mountain and the sea may appear far apart on a map but nature tells us otherwise. The water that leaves our glaciers continues its journey. So do the consequences of the choices we make today."
Khanal explained the science behind the event's name. Sagarmatha, famously known as Mount Everest sits in the Himalayas, sometimes is also called the "Third pole". This region holds more snow and ice than anywhere else in the world except for polar regions, serving as home to more than 63,700 glaciers. Khanal said Nepal has almost lost one-third of its ice over the last 30years.
This is changing the way rivers flow and is hurting the communities downstream. Meanwhile. he said, island and coastal countries are facing the problem of rising seas, land loss and people being forced to leave their homes.
This events builds on something Nepal has already started: the Sagarmatha Sambaad, a bigger climate conversation first held in 2025. According to Khanal, Nepal plans to hold a second Sagarmatha Sambaad next year. He described "Sagarmatha to the Sea" to be a new, ongoing platform rather than being limited to be a single meeting.
Nepal's PM already mentioned this event in his own speech a day before. He said "Starting tomorrow at the 'Sagarmatha to the Sea' side event right here at the United Nations, Nepal is ready to help lead this conversation.
By joining mountain countries with island and coastal countries, Nepal is trying to build a bigger, stronger group that can possibly ask together for climate funding, better early warning systems and closer cooperation.
The event took place during a very busy week for Nepal at the UN. Khanal also spoke at several other group meetings that week, including for the world's least developed countries and landlocked countries.
