Outlook Magazine - The Chinese Plunder - 28 September 2026 Issue

Climate change is making the Himalayas even more vulnerable. Glaciers are melting twice as quickly as in 2000.Rising temperatures are accelerating glacier retreat and altering snow and ice conditions, increasing the potential for landslides, avalanches and glacial floods. But there is another reason for the degradation of the Himalayas. China. Our northern neighbour's insatiable hunger to build humongous infrastructure on ecologically fragile systems has caused harm to the subcontinent as well as the larger Southeast Asia region. The calamity in Nepal offers a stark warning of the risks of China's large, opaque projects, delayed information and environmental disruption. The country is putting millions of lives and billions of dollars of economic activity in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar at stake.