The United Nations ' loss and damage fund has set aside $20m (£15m) for Nepal – less than one per cent of what the country says it needs to recover after a glacier flood killed about 1,500 people in August.

The fund’s board agreed on Thursday at its first extraordinary meeting to set the money aside. This is the first time the global fund has activated its emergency procedures and responded to a specific climate disaster.

Nepal’s government confirmed late on Thursday that it will receive the money from the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD). Its agriculture, forests and environment ministry said the support was meant to “help address the severe damage caused by climate-related disaster”.

The board has invited Nepal to submit a new funding request under the Barbados Implementation Modalities, the fund's start-up phase, and Nepal must prepare a proposal and go through existing approval processes before it can use the money.

The $20m is the most the fund can currently give for any single…