The series of natural disasters that battered the Himalayan region and South Asia during 2014 threw in stark relief the region\u2019s vulnerability to climate change as well as poor planning and development policies.<\/p>\n
In June a massive landslide<\/a> on the Nepal-China border killed over 150 people and blocked the main highway, stranding hundreds of pilgrims travelling to the holy Mount Kailash in Tibet. Although landslides are common in mountainous Nepal, this one was huge and raised questions<\/a> of what other calamities climate change has in store for the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region.<\/p>\n In September intense and unseasonable rainfall in the Indus river basin left a trail of destruction in Kashmir which spread to other parts of northern India and Sindh and Punjab provinces in Pakistan<\/a>. \u00a0India\u2019s northern state of Kashmir hit by the\u00a0worst floods in 50 years<\/a>. India\u2019s prime minister, Narendra Modi, declared it a national disaster. With crops and livestock under water, a state that was re-emerging from years of conflict suffered a cruel setback.<\/p>\n On the Pakistani side, the flooding was equally devastating with more than\u00a0300 dead, 2.3 million people affected<\/a>\u00a0and rural livelihoods decimated as cotton fields were intentionally flooded to save cities. Only four years ago an epic flood engulfed large swaths of Pakistan, displacing 20 million people across the country, leading the UN to describe it as the\u00a0worst humanitarian disaster of its time<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, few lessons have been learnt from the 2010 floods and the havoc exposed, yet again, the lack of proper disaster management in both countries. Amid Pakistani accusations India that did not pass\u00a0on key flood information, senior Indian officials<\/a> admitted there is no flood warning system for Indian-administered Kashmir itself. Improper land use and poor urban infrastructure mean weather events will continue to turn into disasters, say experts<\/a>.<\/p>\n In October the monsoon season was capped off with Cyclone Hudhud\u2019s dramatic arrival<\/a> in the Himalayas of Nepal which caused chaos and exposed further failings of early warning systems.<\/p>\n There was a small ray of light towards the end of the year as member states of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) <\/a>agreed to establish a new regional disaster and environment centre. Some observers hope this can act as a clearing-house for reliable water data<\/a> from member states.<\/p>\n Lack of water and energy are the two biggest constraints to growth in South Asia.\u00a0The sub-continent is racked by energy shortages, with lack of investment, crumbling infrastructure and inefficient systems resulting in economic losses. Nepal continued to suffer 18-hours-a-day power cuts in the capital Kathmandu and power shortages in Pakistan sparked recurrent street protests this year.<\/p>\n A\u00a0more collective approach<\/a> could relieve debilitating shortages. At the November SAARC summit in Kathmandu,<\/a> member states \u2013 i<\/strong>ncluding India and Pakistan\u2013 agreed to develop cross border energy trade and transmission lines, a move aimed to facilitate the integration of the regional energy grid. India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh already have an interconnected grid.<\/p>\n Meanwhile countries hope to tap Himalayan hydropower to close the power gap. Nepal opened up its hydropower sector to foreign investment, signing deals with India for 1,800 megawatts (almost double its current supply). China is now hoping to seal the deal on the long-stalled West Seti dam<\/a>.<\/p>\n In September, India gave a green light to the construction of the largest dam in its history<\/a> on a tributary of the Brahmaputra\u00a0River, with no public consultation or study of downstream impacts. The 3,000 megawatt Dibang hydropower project will be built in the ecologically fragile region of Arunachal Pradesh, north-east India and is one of 168 large dams slated for the region.<\/p>\n In November, the largest dam in Tibet on the Brahmaputra River began producing power, causing concern in the Indian media over the impact on downstream water flow. This marks the beginning of large scale hydropower in Tibet.<\/p>\n Both India and China are also steamrolling<\/a> road and infrastructure projects in this remote region in a race to mark their stake on the water and resources of the region.<\/p>\n The year saw smog descend yet again over large swathes of China, even tarnishing the famous blue sky days of Lhasa. New Delhi is worse off than Beijing<\/a>, the city that gets all the flak, on all parameters of air pollution, according to a new study released earlier this year.<\/p>\n As China set ambitious targets<\/a> to cap its own coal consumption by 2020 it signed deals with Pakistan<\/a> in November to develop a number of coal-fired power stations and other energy projects that will more than double Pakistan\u2019s total power output. Meanwhile an India-Bangladesh joint venture to build a large<\/em> coal plant in the Sundarbans, the world\u2019s biggest mangrove forest<\/a>, triggered protests<\/a> over the health and environmental impacts. Officials claim it will not harm the fragile ecosystem. Bangladesh hopes to triple its power supply by 2030, with half to be generated from coal,\u00a0government records show<\/a>.<\/p>\n While the region made some small steps forward on energy cooperation this goodwill failed to spill over into greater cooperation over shared rivers. In August, UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses<\/a>\u00a0came into effect, setting up the first global legal framework for cooperation over water resources between countries after 50 years of drafting. However China voted against the Convention<\/a> and India and South Asian countries abstained.<\/p>\n In August, the Indian and Pakistani Indus Waters Commissioners agreed to re-examine Pakistan\u2019s objections<\/a> over designs of Kishanganga dam and four other hydropower dams on Jhelum and Chenab rivers \u2013 tributaries of the Indus. Pakistan has opposed the projects since they got off the drawing board. But India has steadfastly maintained that the run-of-the-river projects follow the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty<\/a>\u00a0between the two countries to the letter. Meanwhile, <\/strong>construction of the Kishanganga dam in India\u2019s Jammu and Kashmir state has led to water pollution and health problems<\/a> in the mountain area.<\/p>\n A solution to the problem of sharing the Teesta waters<\/a> continued to elude India and Bangladesh. Talks have dragged on over two decades, while the\u00a0Teesta<\/a>\u00a0has now been reduced to a trickle in northern Bangladesh in the lean season, say affected villagers, many of whom staged protests in the capital Dhaka and elsewhere this year.<\/p>\n South Asian countries did unite to call for a legally binding climate treaty by 2015 ahead of head of the UN climate talks in Peru in December. However, hopes were dashed<\/a> as negotiations ended in a call for action that falls far short of what will be required to combat climate change.<\/p>\n Both India and China pushed ahead with their water diversion projects this year \u2013 displaying a continued penchant for engineering solutions over promoting efficient water use. The second route of China\u2019s $80 billion South North Water Transfer project<\/a> was switched on in December, with water from the Yangtze reaching Beijing for the first time.\u00a0 The western route of the controversial project – which will divert waters from three tributaries of the upper Yangtze\u00a0<\/em>across the Tibetan plateau \u2013 is on hold pending a feasibility study.<\/p>\n In October, the Indian government announced plans to fast-track its own ill-conceived and potentially disastrous scheme to link 30 rivers across the country<\/a>, including the Brahmaputra and the Ganga in the Himalayas.\u00a0 This is even more ambitious than China\u2019s plans in terms of costs and water quantity.<\/p>\nWater and energy<\/h2>\n
At the coalface<\/h2>\n
Cooperation runs dry<\/h2>\n
Water diversion<\/h2>\n