Warming Himalayas demand a rethink on development

Why in the News

Calls for climate resilient, hazard averse development, which avoids known hazard zones, in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) have gone unheeded as climate induced disasters grow frequent and severe. The Nepal floods of August, set off by a collapse of ice and rock, warn that such collapses can happen anywhere in these mountains.

Why are Himalayan glaciers and slopes becoming unstable?

1. Thinning glaciers: Warming tips the balance between winter snow accumulation and summer melt, so glaciers retreat and thin. Ice once far colder now sits near minus 2 degrees C.
2. Meltwater lubrication: Meltwater pools in supraglacial lakes on the surface and carves moulins, vertical shafts to the bedrock. The pressurised water there lets the glacier slide faster.
3. Fracturing channels: Water channels beneath (subglacial) and within (englacial) the glacier exert forces that fracture the ice.
4. Thawing permafrost: Permafrost, ground or rock at or below 0 degrees C, holds steep rock walls together like mortar. As it melts, rock avalanches, landslides and debris flows follow.
5. The takeaway: Warming weakens both the ice and the frozen rock holding Himalayan slopes together, so collapses grow more likely across the range.

What does the evidence on Himalayan warming show?

1. Twice the global rate: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) say high mountain Asia is warming at 0.3 degrees C per decade, nearly twice the global average.
2. Ice loss doubled: Reports by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in March 2026 found ice loss rates across the Hindu Kush Himalaya have doubled since 2000.
3. Uneven warming: The western Himalaya is warming faster than the central and eastern stretches, with night time minimum and winter temperatures rising most.

What happened in Nepal’s Langtang valley?

1. The collapse: A 600 m wide section of ice and rock broke from the northern flank of Langtang Himal at 5,600 m.
2. Early warning signal: Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey recorded unusually high ground temperatures two days before the collapse, using sensors 10 km away.
3. Dam burst flood: The mass dammed the Lhende Khola, a tributary of the Bhote Koshi. When the dam broke, a flood of concrete like mud travelled 170 km down the valley into central Nepal.
4. Loss and damage: Nepal emits about 0.1% of global greenhouse gases yet bears this cost, which grounds its demand for loss and damage compensation.

Why must Himalayan development be rethought?

1. Committee findings: The Avay Shukla Committee and the Ravi Chopra Committee both recommended restricting major hydropower, or subjecting construction above 2,200 m to detailed expert review.
2. Chenab-Beas link: The proposed river linking project needs an 8.7 km tunnel through the steep Pir Panjal Range near Koksar, Himachal Pradesh, at 3,140 m.
3. Diversion logic: Diverting more water from the western rivers of the Indus system looks logical on paper. Its impact on a fragile ecosystem makes the project avoidable.

Challenges

1. No preventive technology: No technology can prevent such collapses, so only their impact downstream can be reduced.
2. Transboundary hazards: Collapses and floods start in one country and strike another, so national monitoring alone cannot warn in time.
3. Projects climbing higher: Hydropower and tunnels keep moving into high, unstable terrain.

Way Forward

1. Shared early warning: Build regional real time data exchange, backed by satellite, drone, acoustic and hydrological sensors on glacier fed rivers.
2. Glacial lake drainage: Monitor glacial lakes continuously and drain them by engineering where feasible.
3. Slope based zoning: Zone flood plains by valley slope, siting infrastructure higher above the riverbed where steep slopes concentrate damage.
4. Elevation cap: Impose a firm ban on hydropower construction above a defined elevation.
5. Project moratorium: Pause all IHR projects until each is reassessed for environmental impact, hazard averseness and climate resilience.

Conclusion

Himalayan development is still planned for mountains that warming has already made unstable. The test is whether new hydropower and river link projects are reassessed against permafrost and slope risk before approval.

Government Initiatives on Himalayan Glacial Hazards

1. National GLOF Risk Mitigation Project: A Rs 150 crore project against glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) covering Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Uttarakhand.
2. Central Water Commission monitoring: It monitors 902 glacial lakes and uses a risk indexing framework to prioritise the most dangerous.
3. Mandatory GLOF studies: After the 2023 Sikkim flood that destroyed the Teesta-III dam, GLOF assessments are mandatory for new dams.
4. Disaster authority outreach: The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)‘s Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction works with Himalayan States to identify high risk lakes.

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2021, GS1, 15 marks] How does the melting of the Arctic ice and glaciers of the Antarctic differently affect the weather patterns and human activities on the Earth? Explain. (250 words) आर्कटिक की बर्फ़ और अंटार्टिक के ग्लेशियरों का पिघलना किस तरह अलग-अलग ढंग से पृथ्वी पर मौसम के स्वरूप और मनुष्य की गतिविधियों पर प्रभाव डालते हैं? स्पष्ट कीजिए। (250 शब्दों में उत्तर दीजिए)”