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Nepal Drains 4 Glacial Lakes to Slash Flood Risk After Deadly Disaster
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Firstpost•02-10-2026, 22:52
Nepal Drains 4 Glacial Lakes to Slash Flood Risk After Deadly Disaster
- •Nepal will drain four high-altitude glacial lakes to mitigate flood risks, following a recent disaster that killed over 1,400 people and left 5,000 missing.
- •The project, estimated at $50 million and funded by the Green Climate Fund, UNDP, and the government, will involve draining water into nearby rivers via canals.
- •Design and detailed studies for Thulagi, Lower Barun, Lumding Tsho, and Hongu II lakes will commence this fiscal year, with the draining work potentially taking up to six years.
- •The initiative includes installing sensors, a flood forecasting and warning system, and building community resilience against future events.
- •This urgent action comes after Nepal's Prime Minister Balendra Shah highlighted the heavy price his country pays due to climate change, despite negligible emissions, with retreating glaciers creating unstable glacial lakes.
Key Questions Answered
Nepal's design work and detailed studies will target the central and eastern lakes of Thulagi, Lower Barun, Lumding Tsho, and Hongu II for drainage canals.
The $50-million project will be funded jointly by the Green Climate Fund, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the government of Nepal.
According to Sanjeeb Baral, executive director of the Centre for Hydrology and Water Resources Research, the actual drainage work using gated structures could take up to six years to complete.
