Himachal Pradesh: Hills creak under climate crisis, construction

The landslide that struck a national highway in Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur district has brought back focus on the delicate ecology of the region, which has been weakened further by the human-induced climate crisis and unchecked construction of power projects, experts say.

These factors together raise the possibility of landslides and floods, which loom as a threat in addition to the seismological features that predispose the region to earthquakes, which can further trigger big landslides.

Manshi Asher of Himdhara Collective, an environment group based in Himachal, summarised these as three factors that made the region vulnerable to disasters: fragile ecology, climate change and unplanned development.