When Tashi Lhazom was 11, a glacial lake overflowed and inundated her home in a high Himalayan valley. Of her family’s hundreds of shaggy yaks, only two survived. In 2025, another flash flood cascaded into the village, the result, scientists say, of melting permafrost on a warming planet.
Such natural disasters spurred Ms. Lhazom’s political awakening. When Nepali young people protested a year ago, she joined other climate activists on the forefront of a Gen Z revolution that eventually ushered in a youth-dominated government in March.
Last month, when a glacial collapse created an inland tsunami that left more than 8,000 dead or missing in other Himalayan valleys in Nepal and Tibet, Ms. Lhazom again raised her voice. Now 26, she demanded that the world’s most polluting countries compensate Nepal for what she calls a “climate national emergency.”
“It’s high time we shift from the language of foreign aid to the language of climate compensation and even reparations,” she said. “This is not a crime that we in Nepal committed, but we are the ones who are suffering.”
