UN welcomes China's development role

During a recent visit to Nepal, I met Shuvakala Devia Das, a local community member from the Terai in Nepal. After flooding hit Nepal last summer, the entire community has struggled to recover. About 160 people lost their lives, more than 43,000 houses were destroyed and 21,000 families displaced. Das's family needed to evacuate and were in urgent need of support.

This is a very poor community, and it is these communities that suffer the most from natural disasters and environmental degradation. Without the resources, infrastructure and capital to mitigate and recover, these communities will remain in poverty and continue to suffer from the growing development challenges of this generation. This was evident when talking to Das, who told me that she still struggles to sleep at night due to the fear of flooding and lack of means for her family to recover.

I was really touched by her story and heartened to see that assistance provided by the Chinese government (the Ministry of Commerce) and the United Nations Development Programme was helping her to rebuild her life for a stronger future. However, the challenge still remains to make sure this assistance is long term and sustainable for these vulnerable communities and has a lasting impact on their efforts to build a better and stronger future.