Nepal Flood Victims Could Potentially Seek Justice Through Climate Litigation

Catastrophic floods in Nepal caused the deaths of thousands of people in August 2026. This disaster is overwhelmingly attributed to climate change, marking another severe climate scenario in South Asia following the floods in Pakistan in 2022.

Potential Action

A debate that has not drawn much attention in this part of the world explores the scope of establishing flood victims as victims of climate wrongs. The situation of the Nepalese people can be analysed from the prism of climate litigations used by plaintiffs in many jurisdictions of Europe and the United States over the last two decades.

Context

Climate litigation involves legal actions brought against governments or major carbon emitters to hold them accountable for environmental damage. While climate harms affect society broadly, establishing a direct link between specific emitters and individual losses remains a complex legal challenge in courts globally.