{"id":53725,"date":"2025-09-11T19:21:28","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T13:51:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=53725"},"modified":"2025-09-12T13:14:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T07:44:32","slug":"rampant-development-not-climate-pushing-himalayas-to-the-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/editorial-analysis\/11-09-2025\/rampant-development-not-climate-pushing-himalayas-to-the-edge","title":{"rendered":"Rampant Development, Not Climate, Pushing Himalayas to the Edge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus<\/strong><strong>: GS3\/Environment; Sustainable Development<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Recent disasters across Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Jammu &amp; Kashmir suggest that the <strong>real accelerant is man-made disruption<\/strong>, while global warming certainly exacerbates environmental stress.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Fragility of the Himalayan Ecosystem<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Himalayan ecosystem is <strong>inherently fragile<\/strong> due to its <strong>young geological age<\/strong>, steep slopes, and dynamic weather systems. It features:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>High seismic activity due to tectonic movements;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rapid erosion and landslides triggered by deforestation and slope destabilization;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>ISRO reports that <strong>glacial lakes in the Himalayas<\/strong> have expanded significantly over the past three decades, with some growing by over 170%\u2014a direct consequence of <strong>warming and land-use changes<\/strong>, increasing the risk of <strong>glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs);<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <strong>IPCC reports<\/strong> confirm that the Himalayas are <strong>among the most climate-sensitive regions.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>According to the <strong>State of Environment Report by MoEFCC (2021)<\/strong>, over 30% of Himalayan glaciers have retreated in the last five decades.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <strong>National Disaster Management Authority\u2019s SACHET Portal <\/strong>highlights the increasing frequency of landslides, flash floods, and avalanches in Himalayan states.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>These disasters are often worsened by <strong>poor planning and lack of early warning systems.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Recent Devastation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In August, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/06-09-2025\/floods-in-punjab\">Punjab faced its worst floods since 1988<\/a> as the <strong>Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi rivers overflowed<\/strong>, submerging villages.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Several people died across Himalayan states due to torrential rains, while <strong>Dharali village in Uttarkashi<\/strong>, <strong>Uttarakhand<\/strong>, was wiped out by a landslide-triggered deluge.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>These disasters echo past Himalayan tragedies \u2014 the <strong>Kedarnath floods (2013) <\/strong>and the <strong>Chamoli disaster (2021)<\/strong> \u2014 each treated <strong>as an \u2018unprecedented act of nature\u2019.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Between 2017 and 2022,<\/strong> over 1,550 lives were lost and more than 12,000 homes damaged in Himachal Pradesh alone due to floods and landslides.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Man-Made Disruptions: Development vs. Ecology<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Unplanned Development<\/strong>: Widespread infrastructure projects, especially hydropower plants, highways, and tunnels, are being built without adequate environmental or disaster impact assessments.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Deforestation and Land Use Change<\/strong>: Expanding agriculture, urbanization, and hydropower projects cause large-scale deforestation.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Forest Survey of India<\/strong> reports highlight that forest cover in some Himalayan states is shrinking due to unregulated construction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Hydropower &amp; Infrastructure Development<\/strong>: The push for <strong>dams, tunnels, and highways<\/strong> has destabilized slopes.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Himachal Pradesh<\/strong> currently has 180 operational hydropower plants, with hundreds more in the pipeline. <strong>Uttarakhand<\/strong> has 40 plants running and 87 under planning.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>These projects, combined with road-widening and tunnel construction, use heavy machinery that destabilizes slopes and amplifies disaster risks.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Projects under the <strong>Char Dham Pariyojana<\/strong> and<strong> rampant tunneling <\/strong>in Uttarakhand increase landslide risks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Tourism Pressure<\/strong>: Mass tourism in <strong>fragile alpine regions,<\/strong> especially around <strong>Himachal, Sikkim, and Uttarakhand,<\/strong> strains local ecosystems.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Solid waste, road expansion, and unregulated resorts accelerate degradation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sand Mining &amp; Riverbed Exploitation<\/strong>: Excessive mining of Himalayan rivers reduces water flow, increases flood risk, and disrupts aquatic biodiversity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Strengthening the Himalayan Ecosystem<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE)<\/strong>: A key mission under the <strong>National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC)<\/strong>, it promotes research, policy formulation, and capacity building to sustain ecological resilience.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>National Mission on Himalayan Studies (NMHS):<\/strong> It supports research and pilot projects across themes like water resource management, biodiversity conservation, climate-resilient infrastructure, and waste handling.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It aligns with <strong>national priorities like \u2018Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE)\u2019 <\/strong>and global goals such as the SDGs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Judicial Intervention &amp; Observation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Recently, the <strong>Supreme Court of India<\/strong> warned that Himachal Pradesh risked <strong>disappearing \u2018from the map of India\u2019<\/strong> if reckless development continued.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It said that the <strong>tunnels along the Chandigarh\u2013Manali<\/strong> highway <strong>became \u2018death traps\u2019 during rains.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In September, visuals of tree logs floating in floods prompted Justice B.R. Gavai to warn against sacrificing forests and lives for unchecked development.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Pathways for Sustainable Development<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Development With Context: <\/strong>Developmental projects need to undergo <strong>lifecycle, disaster, and social impact assessments<\/strong> before approval, alongside genuine public consultations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Eco-sensitive Zoning<\/strong>: Limiting construction on fragile slopes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Community-based Tourism Models<\/strong> with waste management systems.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Hydropower Alternatives<\/strong>: Prioritize micro-hydel projects over mega dams.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Climate-resilient Infrastructure<\/strong>: Incorporate seismic safety and green design.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Strengthened Early Warning Systems<\/strong> for landslides, GLOFs, and flash floods.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Strict land-use planning<\/strong> to prevent unsafe construction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#fff2cc\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Daily Mains Practice Question<\/strong><br><strong>[Q]<\/strong> Critically examine how rapid development is contributing to the ecological degradation and increased disaster vulnerability of the Himalayan region.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/energy-and-environment\/rampant-development-not-climate-pushing-himalaya-to-the-edge\/article70011713.ece\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Source: TH<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/UPSC-Editorial-Analysis-11-September-2025.PDF.pdf\">Download PDF<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recent disasters across Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Jammu &#038; Kashmir suggest that the real accelerant is man-made disruption, while global warming certainly exacerbates environmental stress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial-analysis"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53725"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53793,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53725\/revisions\/53793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}