Column | Nepal Floods Push For The Timely Sharing Of Hydrological And Cryosphere Data

Speaking at a recent India-Nepal conference in Kathmandu, Nepal’s Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal noted the Himalayan interconnectedness of India-Nepal-China. Calling the cryosphere changes a “civilisational threat”, he said that “there could be political rivalry, but we have to come together as the Himalayan region is most vulnerable to climate change”.

The Himalayas are also relatively fragile, commonly known as the young fold mountains. This makes them especially vulnerable to landslides, not just through natural causes such as the movement of the Earth’s tectonic plates, but by manmade disruptions such as infrastructure development. Indeed, for many, a critical factor in the flash flood was the massive scale of development undertaken by the Chinese on their side in Tibet in this eco-sensitive and fragile region. There is also a feeling that there was no effective monitoring of the cryosphere by China and real-time sharing of warnings with the Nepalese that could have prevented much loss of life.

With the Chinese building a mega dam across the Tsangpo (Brahmaputra), the ecological implications of the project, beyond its impact on water flows, are an obvious matter of concern for India and should be for Bangladesh too.

The abiding images of the past few days are of the huge tragedy caused by a massive flash flood that struck Nepal’s Trishuli Valley, just west of Kathmandu. Reports suggest that over 1,000 people are dead and thousands missing with hundreds of pilgrims, mostly Indians or of Indian origin, returning from Kailash Mansarovar, stranded on the Chinese side of the border.

The loss of property in Nepal is of an unimaginable scale with whole villages, bridges and roads being swept away and many workers feared trapped in a tunnel of the Trishuli hydropower project. Trishuli Valley is also a major artery to Tibet and widely used by pilgrims going to Kailash Mansarovar. Naturally, this also led to a tourism boom with small hotels and developments coming up close to the river, adding hugely to the death and destruction.

Preliminary analysis suggests that this flash flood was not a conventional outcome of very heavy rainfall, but a high-mountain event involving a glacier and ice-rock collapse, sending huge amounts of water and debris cascading down the river and sweeping away everything in its path with unimaginable power and fury. Reports suggest that another flash flood may follow as a barrier lake formed by the glacier collapse appears to be overflowing and may collapse too.

Climate Change

Nepal’s Himalayan geography is known to be earthquake-prone and this has caused extensive damage in the past. Indeed, the country is barely recovering from the enormous loss of life and devastation caused by the 2015 earthquake. The past few decades have seen this susceptibility being compounded by another one—that of climate change affecting the Himalayas.

The Himalayas are often referred to as the Third Pole on Earth. Just like the North Pole and the South Pole, there are huge reservoirs of ice and water and extreme events that hugely impact ecosystems across the Indian subcontinent, Tibet and indeed the globe. For years, climate scientists have observed the melting of the Himalayan glaciers and have repeatedly warned of the catastrophic impact on the cryosphere, calling for both mitigation and adaptation efforts.

Monitoring, early-warning systems, land-use planning, infrastructure design and preparedness need to account for the changing conditions in the cryosphere rather than relying only on historical risk patterns that are obviously critical in the Himalayas. Additionally, and perhaps, critically, timely sharing of hydrological and cryosphere data, developing joint monitoring and management mechanisms and coordinating decisions across countries and sectors are an imperative that must be acted upon.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has identified effective governance as a key enabler of adaptation and disaster-risk reduction in mountain regions. And, because mountain hazards and river systems cross administrative and national boundaries, it has underscored the importance of regional cooperation and transboundary governance. Recognising the fragility and importance of the Hindu Kush and the Himalayan region, the eight countries of the region—Nepal, India, China, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Myanmar—established the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development at Kathmandu in 1983.

Global Impact

Strong cooperation among the countries of the region is obviously imperative, but it is equally important that the world recognises what is happening in the Himalayas and its global impact. These demand strong global resolve and collaboration, backed by money, innovation and technology, on mitigation and adaptation as well as on building resilience. It is not just Nepal that has had to face the catastrophic consequences of a natural disaster likely compounded by climate change. The developed world has also seen them, as best noted in the wildfires that have raged through Europe and the US.

As was natural, India was the first respondent, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling Nepal’s Prime Minister Balen Shah to condole the loss and offer disaster-related assistance, the first tranche of which reached Nepal the day of the flood itself. Nepal has now sought assistance from India in putting up Bailey bridges and medical relief. There should be no doubt that India will be strong in solidarity with Nepal in this time of need, even while it works to locate and bring to safety its own nationals, mostly pilgrims, trapped in the flood area. On its part, Nepal too has realised that it requires international assistance at this time even though there was an initial hesitation, possibly to ensure proper relief coordination.

While India-China issues have long played out in Nepal, the growing imperative of addressing climate change and the Himalayan hazards it is causing demands cooperation regardless of geopolitical contestation, even as the US has become increasingly active in Nepal in recent years. Indeed, many believe that it was their encouragement of the Gen-Z protests last September that resulted in a new government of young leaders. Here, of course, it bears to note that the US, at present, is completely disdainful of climate change and has withdrawn from all its international commitments. The Nepalis could not but have noticed this.

(Views expressed are personal)

Manjeev Singh Puri is the former ambassador of India to Nepal and lead negotiator for India at the climate change negotiations