Nepal could seek up to $20 million from loss-and-damage fund

The Board of the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) adopted a decision on Oct. 22, 2026, provisionally setting aside $21.6 million in response to Nepal’s request following the Bhote Koshi floods. Of that amount, $1.6 million is for oversight fees, leaving up to $20 million for possible support. The decision does not approve a grant or send money to Nepal.

The Board also approved a pilot route that would let Nepal submit a new funding request outside the fund’s usual submission period. It invited Nepal’s national focal point to consider making one. The route is for the government, not an individual application process for people affected by the floods.

How Nepal could seek support i

Nepal would need to submit a proposal. The FRLD Secretariat would assess it before the Board considers whether to approve funding. The provisional set-aside does not guarantee approval or any payment, and the Board set no firm timeline for assessment, approval or disbursement.

The pilot is separate from an existing Nepal request under the fund’s regular Barbados Implementation Modalities process, which remains in ordinary review. Any new request through the pilot would require another Board decision. The Board also asked the Secretariat to assess lessons from the Nepal response for the fund’s long-term model, without deciding in advance how that model should work.

For people affected by the floods, the immediate change is a way for Nepal to seek consideration outside the usual submission period—not funds they can access now. Any support depends on a government request, Secretariat assessment and Board approval.

Possible support is small beside reconstruction estimate i

Agence France-Presse reported the Nepal government’s reconstruction estimate as $4.78 billion. The possible $20 million in support equals about 0.42% of that estimate—roughly 42 cents per $100. That comparison is with the reported reconstruction estimate; it does not measure the share of all recovery needs the fund might cover.

Board members differed over how to treat the pilot. Some described it as an exceptional response and cautioned against treating it as a precedent for the fund’s long-term operating model. Pakistan representative Ali Tauqeer Sheikh questioned the basis for the amount and raised the lack of a clear timeline. The co-chair said a Nepal proposal would be assessed under the technical criteria already used for the Barbados Implementation Modalities.