The urgent need for sustainable mountain development in Himachal Pradesh

The news of houses crumbling and being swept down a gorge has become an everyday reality in the beautiful state of Himachal Pradesh. The torrential and incessant rains, accompanied by flash floods and landslides this year have resulted in colossal losses in the hill state. According to the state disaster management authority, there have been at least 367 deaths in rain-related incidents since the onset of the monsoon this year. Moreover, around 12,000 houses were damaged, approximately 506 roads shut down and 149 water supply schemes were dislocated. Given the extent of the devastation, the entire state has been declared a “natural calamity-affected area.” Mother Nature has always been very generous to Himachal – arranged idyllic rivers, pretty streams, scenic snow-clad mountains, dense forest cover and diversity of plants and flowers thereby making it a geography in harmony with nature. Thus, it is even more disheartening to see outlandish sights of nature’s fury and the misery engulfing the state – a memory that will stay alive for years in our collective consciousness.

The Himachal nightmare is certainly the result of a combination of anthropogenic factors – climate change and global warming, questionable development projects and pressures of tourism. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s sixth report, global warming is going to severely impact the Himalayan region and changes in the cryosphere will result in “severe consequences” in the mountain regions. This means that mountain communities in Himachal and Uttarakhand that are already witnessing flash floods and landslides, may see their ecosystems degraded with extremely low resilience in the foreseeable future.

Since 1971 when Himachal attained statehood, it followed what was known as the Dr Parmar model of development that turned the state into a success story, particularly amongst other mountain states. The model enabled Himachal to achieve a good ranking in social development parameters through an emphasis on the state’s investment in social welfare, strengthening human resources and land reforms. The model also focused on building road infrastructure in the hilly state and encouraged the cultivation of cash crops that eventually helped Himachal become an important fruit producer in the country. Importantly, this model of development stressed the point that the development requirements of mountain states are different from other states of India. Eventually, due to pressures of globalization and liberalization, like other mountain states, Himachal was compelled to generate its own resources to carry forward the process of development. Thus, the exploitation of forests, water and other forms of natural resources in the state became part of common development strategies that continue to have long-lasting impacts.

Another factor that has resurfaced nowadays in the backdrop of the Himachal floods is the haphazard and unplanned construction of houses in the state. For instance, the latest viral videos showing eight multi-storeyed buildings collapsing in the blink of an eye in Anni in Kullu district sent shivers down my spine. Because the place is a panchayat area and therefore, outside the purview of the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Act, there is no restriction on the number of floors of a building. This is a serious concern as the combination of incessant rains and this kind of construction throughout the state has resulted in the loosening of strata. In other words, the construction of tall buildings has put excessive pressure on the land resulting in what is known as land subsidence in the state during the heavy rains causing havoc.

As part of the development process in the hill state, one has also witnessed rapid construction of hydropower projects in Himachal over the years. While their contribution to the progress of the state is enormous and much appreciated, their role in the recent floods has become a concern for policymakers. The surge in hydropower projects has also resulted in the increasing use of technology known as “run of the river” dams. This means that projects built on the rivers of Himachal have diverted the flow of water through tunnels burrowed into the mountains, and the debris disposed along the riverbeds. In the event of cloudbursts or heavy rains like this year, water carries this debris along with it resulting in disastrous consequences as is the case now. Besides, the methods used in certain constructions involve vertical cutting of mountains instead of terraced cutting resulting in adverse consequences to the environment during the rains.

What then is the way forward to address these challenges? The need is to rework the development model to address systemic issues faced by the hill state. An important lesson learnt from this recent catastrophe has been that “mountain specificities” should drive the development process in hill states like Himachal Pradesh. The characteristics distinguishing mountain regions from other geographies should be at the core of development planning in the state. Mountain specificities define opportunities such as comparative advantage and diversity, as well as the constraints, namely fragility and inaccessibility in Himachal’s development process.

Localising Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the form of Sustainable Mountain Development (SMD) is also an important step to ensure locally informed development in Himachal. This concept was first used in Agenda 21, which was adopted by more than 178 countries at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. It was also discussed at the third session of the Commission on Sustainable Development, the nineteenth special session of the United Nations General Assembly of 1997 and the Rio+20 Conference in 2012. Since the UNCED in 1992, SMD has been implemented in many mountain regions of Europe to ensure sustainable development of both mountains and populations that depended upon them for their survival.

SMD implies acknowledging the crucial role played by mountain ecosystems in providing natural resources including water to a large part of the population. Importantly, SMD emphasizes the significance of mountain ecosystems as home to local and indigenous communities. Therefore, as mountain environments face rapid changes, SMD calls for cooperative efforts of all relevant stakeholders including local communities to formulate holistic approaches. The Sustainable Mountain Development Summit-XI at Leh in October 2022 is a step in the right direction.

We can all contribute to the protection of our beautiful mountains. We owe this to our children.

Dr Aradhana Talwar is assistant professor, the Department of Public Policy, School of Social Sciences, Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences, Bengaluru. The views expressed are personal