Nepal convenes 'Sagarmatha to the Sea' at UN Headquarters with five co-hosts

25 September 2026

On the margins of the United Nations General Assembly, Nepal convened a high-level event at UN Headquarters in New York titled 'Sagarmatha to the Sea: A Call to Action for a Climate-Resilient Future'. Bhutan, the Maldives, New Zealand, Samoa and Tajikistan co-hosted it with Nepal, with support from the UN Environment Programme and ESCAP. The purpose was to argue that melting mountain ice and rising seas are one problem and not two, linking landlocked mountain states with small island states. Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal described the late-August collapse of rock and glacier ice in the Langtang region as a 'Himalayan Tsunami'. He told the meeting that the Himalayan region holds more than 63,700 glaciers and that Nepal has lost close to a third of its ice in three decades. He set out five propositions, among them keeping the 1.5 degree limit within reach and capitalising the loss and damage fund properly. Nepal also used the event to recall that it hosted the first Sagarmatha Sambaad in 2025 and plans a second edition.