Rampant Development, Not Climate, Pushing Himalayas to the Edge

General Studies Paper-3

Context

• Recent disasters across Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Jammu & Kashmir suggest that the real accelerant is man-made disruption, while global warming certainly exacerbates environmental stress.

Fragility of the Himalayan Ecosystem

• The Himalayan ecosystem is inherently fragile due to its young geological age, steep slopes, and dynamic weather systems. It features:
  • High seismic activity due to tectonic movements;
  • Rapid erosion and landslides triggered by deforestation and slope destabilization;
  • ISRO reports that glacial lakes in the Himalayas have expanded significantly over the past three decades, with some growing by over 170%—a direct consequence of warming and land-use changes, increasing the risk of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs);
• The IPCC reports confirm that the Himalayas are among the most climate-sensitive regions.
• According to the State of Environment Report by MoEFCC (2021), over 30% of Himalayan glaciers have retreated in the last five decades.
• The National Disaster Management Authority’s SACHET Portal highlights the increasing frequency of landslides, flash floods, and avalanches in Himalayan states.
  • These disasters are often worsened by poor planning and lack of early warning systems.

Recent Devastation

• In August, Punjab faced its worst floods since 1988 as the Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi rivers overflowed, submerging villages.
  • Several people died across Himalayan states due to torrential rains, while Dharali village in Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, was wiped out by a landslide-triggered deluge.
  • These disasters echo past Himalayan tragedies — the Kedarnath floods (2013) and the Chamoli disaster (2021) — each treated as an ‘unprecedented act of nature’.
• Between 2017 and 2022, over 1,550 lives were lost and more than 12,000 homes damaged in Himachal Pradesh alone due to floods and landslides.

Man-Made Disruptions: Development vs. Ecology

• Unplanned Development: Widespread infrastructure projects, especially hydropower plants, highways, and tunnels, are being built without adequate environmental or disaster impact assessments.
• Deforestation and Land Use Change: Expanding agriculture, urbanization, and hydropower projects cause large-scale deforestation.
  • Forest Survey of India reports highlight that forest cover in some Himalayan states is shrinking due to unregulated construction.
• Hydropower & Infrastructure Development: The push for dams, tunnels, and highways has destabilized slopes.
  • Himachal Pradesh currently has 180 operational hydropower plants, with hundreds more in the pipeline. Uttarakhand has 40 plants running and 87 under planning.
  • These projects, combined with road-widening and tunnel construction, use heavy machinery that destabilizes slopes and amplifies disaster risks.
  • Projects under the Char Dham Pariyojana and rampant tunneling in Uttarakhand increase landslide risks.
• Tourism Pressure: Mass tourism in fragile alpine regions, especially around Himachal, Sikkim, and Uttarakhand, strains local ecosystems.
  • Solid waste, road expansion, and unregulated resorts accelerate degradation.
• Sand Mining & Riverbed Exploitation: Excessive mining of Himalayan rivers reduces water flow, increases flood risk, and disrupts aquatic biodiversity.

Strengthening the Himalayan Ecosystem

• National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE): A key mission under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), it promotes research, policy formulation, and capacity building to sustain ecological resilience.
• National Mission on Himalayan Studies (NMHS): It supports research and pilot projects across themes like water resource management, biodiversity conservation, climate-resilient infrastructure, and waste handling.
  • It aligns with national priorities like ‘Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE)’ and global goals such as the SDGs.

Judicial Intervention & Observation

• Recently, the Supreme Court of India warned that Himachal Pradesh risked disappearing ‘from the map of India’ if reckless development continued.
  • It said that the tunnels along the Chandigarh–Manali highway became ‘death traps’ during rains.
• In September, visuals of tree logs floating in floods prompted Justice B.R. Gavai to warn against sacrificing forests and lives for unchecked development.

Pathways for Sustainable Development

• Development With Context: Developmental projects need to undergo lifecycle, disaster, and social impact assessments before approval, alongside genuine public consultations.
• Eco-sensitive Zoning: Limiting construction on fragile slopes.
• Community-based Tourism Models with waste management systems.
• Hydropower Alternatives: Prioritize micro-hydel projects over mega dams.
• Climate-resilient Infrastructure: Incorporate seismic safety and green design.
• Strengthened Early Warning Systems for landslides, GLOFs, and flash floods.
• Strict land-use planning to prevent unsafe construction.