Nepal has initiated the establishment of a seven-member expert committee aimed at investigating the origins, causes, and sequence of events related to the recent Tibet-Nepal floods. This initiative was disclosed on September 16, 2026, following the devastating floods that impacted various regions.

Coordinated by Devesh Belbase, an authority in water policy and governance, the committee includes several specialists: hydrologist Narendra Man Shakya, glaciologist Rijan Bhakta Kayastha, remote-sensing expert Uttam Babu Shrestha, geologist Meghraj Dhital, hydropower infrastructure expert Hari Pandit, and disaster-risk reduction expert Anil Pokharel.

According to a spokesperson from the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation, the committee is tasked with conducting field studies across the potential origin points of the flood, particularly focusing on the Bhotekoshi/Lhende river system and its downstream areas.

Objectives and Methodology of the Investigation

The committee’s investigation will extend beyond just establishing a scientific origin and timeline of the flooding events; it aims to examine how hydropower and energy infrastructure can be safeguarded from similar occurrences in the future. Various technologies, including drones and satellite imagery, will be employed to gather necessary data and insights.

Emphasising a comprehensive approach, the spokesperson highlighted that the investigation will regard the flooding not merely as an extreme weather event but as a ‘cascading disaster’. This means investigating possible interlinked threats posed by Himalayan, geological, and hydrological hazards that could have triggered the floods in succession.

A preliminary study conducted by the Centre for Hydrology and Water Resources Research immediately after the floods indicated a lack of sufficient scientific evidence to determine the flood’s exact origins and the physical processes involved. This has underscored the need for an extensive scientific inquiry into the sequence of events prior to definitively attributing the disaster to climate change.

Phased Approach to the Study

The Ministry has devised a three-phase approach for the thorough investigation into the floods. The initial phase will focus on documenting the chronology of events and assessing physical damage in affected regions, spanning from the high Himalayan areas through the Bhotekoshi/Lhende river system.

Simultaneously, the committee will investigate the interrelations between glaciers, and factors such as rock and soil-slope instability, landslides, sediment flows, and the resultant flooding. In the second phase, the investigation will identify immediate as well as underlying physical causes of the flood by examining geological aspects and sediment characteristics in potential source areas.

The final phase will conduct a scientific evaluation of any potential contributions made by human-induced climate change to the severity or occurrence of these hazards. This review will encompass a range of environmental factors, including rainfall patterns, temperature fluctuations, and long-term climatic trends prior to the floods.

International Collaboration and Future Implications

To enhance the scope of the investigation, the Energy Ministry plans to incorporate relevant scientific and hydrological data from China. The spokesperson indicated that mechanisms for scientific cooperation and data sharing would be established as needed.

A previous World Weather Attribution study had linked extreme rainfall events in Nepal from September 26 to 28, 2024, to human-induced climate change. However, the current flooding incident is considered different in nature, and therefore the findings of this new investigation will rely solely on event-specific evidence rather than direct comparisons to past disasters.

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