While delivering his maiden speech at the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah questioned a global system where weapons cross borders rapidly while farmers struggle to access fuel and fertilizer.
“Inter-continental missiles arrive on time. Rifles and ammunition cross borders, clear every bottleneck, meet each deadline. Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah speaks during the 81st United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York on September 24, 2026 Photo Credit: AFP
But a peasant in Nepal cannot procure his fertilizer or fuel at market price at a time of need”, he said.
“And this is not Nepal’s private misfortune. Ask Bangladesh. Ask Bhutan. Ask India. Ask the Maldives. Ask Pakistan. Ask Sri Lanka. Ask any other country in our region and you will hear the same account: hit by the climate we did not warm, and hit again by the wars we did not start. “The Hindu Kush Himalaya is home to nearly two billion people. These mountains provide water, ecosystems, agriculture and livelihoods to populations far beyond Nepal. The Himalayas are not peripheral to the planet.
At 36, Shah spoke as the youngest head of government at the assembly this year, using the global platform to advocate for climate justice for South Asian nations.
This tells us there is a lot more broken than meets the eye in the present order of global cooperation,” he said. They are part of the planet’s life-support system,” Shah said. “That is why, as an urgent first step, we propose that we establish a Himalayan Climate Resilience Mechanism, led by Nepal, India and China,” Shah said.
