Interfaith gathering for Nepal urges stronger action on climate crisis

Religious leaders from various faith traditions met on September 15 to pray for Nepal and call for increased climate justice following devastating floods and landslides in the Himalayan region. The interfaith prayer, titled “With Nepal: A Prayer of Solidarity, Healing and Hope,” brought together representatives from Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, the Bahá’í faith, and the Indigenous Kirat spiritual tradition.

The Laudato Si’ Movement, the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences–Office of Human Development, and Radio Veritas Asia organized the event. Participants included environmental activists and civil society representatives from Nepal, Indonesia, Myanmar, South Korea, the Philippines, and Timor-Leste.

The gathering responded to the August 26 disasters in the Nepal-Tibet Himalayan region, which caused deaths, disappearances, and damage to infrastructure and transport. Leaders noted that the tragedy reflects an ecological crisis in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, where glacier retreat and melting permafrost increase the risk of landslides and glacial lake outburst floods.