Nepal Seeks India-China Climate Cooperation Amid Himalayan Threats
Prime Minister Balendra Shah proposes a regional mechanism to address escalating climate dangers in the Himalayas, a region marked by both environmental fragility and geopolitical tension.
Nepal's Prime Minister Balendra Shah has proposed the creation of a Himalayan Climate Resilience Mechanism, an initiative aimed at fostering cooperation between regional rivals India and China, along with Nepal, to combat shared climate threats. The proposal, delivered during a recent UN General Assembly speech, follows devastating debris floods that struck Nepal in August.
Shah envisions the mechanism strengthening cross-border disaster response and promoting the sharing of scientific data and expertise in one of the world's most environmentally fragile and geopolitically sensitive regions. "Let the Himalayas become a laboratory of international co-operation rather than a frontier of fragmented information," he stated.
A senior official from Nepal's foreign ministry indicated that the proposal is in its nascent stages, with the ministry working to develop a preliminary framework for discussion. Neither India nor China has formally responded to the initiative.
The Himalayas, which form a significant portion of the disputed border between India and China, are experiencing a rapid rise in temperatures, exceeding the global average. This warming is accelerating glacier melt and permafrost thaw, increasing the risks of landslides, rockfalls, avalanches, and glacial lake outburst floods. These disasters can transcend national boundaries, threatening lives and infrastructure downstream.
A report by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development revealed that glaciers across the Hindu Kush Himalaya region are melting at an accelerating rate, with ice loss doubling since 2000 compared to the 1974-1999 period. Glaciers on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau have shrunk by 24% in area over the past six decades, leading to the expansion of glacial lakes and a heightened risk of cross-border floods. A 2024 study also projected a significant rise in landslide hazards across the Himalayas and Tibet in the coming decades due to increased rainstorms.
Despite the urgent need for cooperation, past attempts by India and China to collaborate on Himalayan environmental issues have yielded limited results. While the two nations have found common ground at UN climate negotiations, particularly in advocating for developing nations' positions, they lack a dedicated agreement to address climate change impacts in the Himalayas. An agreement in 2009 for joint research into the impact of global warming on Himalayan glaciers reportedly stalled after an initial meeting.
Furthermore, data-sharing agreements between India and China for key rivers originating in Tibet have recently expired or ceased. China stopped sharing hydrological data on the Brahmaputra in June 2023, and India has not received data on the Sutlej since 2022. China previously cited technical issues at monitoring stations when withholding similar information in 2017 during a military stand-off.
Some analysts suggest that recent political engagements between India and China could create opportunities for climate-related cooperation. However, unresolved border disputes and the potential military value of climate data may remain significant obstacles. Information crucial for climate science could be perceived as strategic intelligence by national security establishments in a region with a heavily militarized and disputed frontier.
Past efforts to tackle transboundary disasters have also been hampered by these sensitivities. While organizations like the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) have promoted regional cooperation, progress has been slow due to reluctance in sharing highly sensitive data, such as comprehensive river flow information. Experts suggest focusing on sharing less sensitive disaster risk data as a starting point. Practical steps could include jointly identifying high-risk glacial lakes, agreeing on basic data-sharing and monitoring standards, and exchanging critical warnings promptly, as suggested by Dr. Uday Kala, head of the Centre for Climate Change and Disaster Management at India's IIT Mandi. The success of Nepal's initiative hinges on its ability to persuade its powerful neighbors to set aside their differences for collective climate action.