Nepal’s leader, at U.N., says recent floods serve as a ‘warning to the world’ about climate change

UNITED NATIONS — Nepal’s prime minister scolded fellow world leaders Thursday, saying the nation’s recent deadly flood reminds a warming world that climate change keeps hurting people who didn’t cause the crisis but now need help.

The August disaster “was not just a local tragedy. It was a warning to the world. And I ask you today: Have you really heard that warning?” Nepali Prime Minister Balendra Shah said at the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday night. “Nearly three years ago, standing in the shadow of our Mount Everest, the secretary-general of the United Nations warned humanity about the madness and impending climate disaster.”

“That cry from the rooftop of the world was not heard enough,” Shah said. “We in Nepal heard it. Our communities heard it. Scientists around the world heard it. They repeated it with evidence. But we, the political leaders, have been negligent to translate those warnings in action at the speed and scale that the vulnerable people require.”

International scientists have connected melting permafrost from climate change — caused by burning coal, oil and gas — to the instability of the glacier, which partly collapsed and triggered a massive flood that has killed at least 1,400…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business