NEWS Recently, China has announced that it is planning to build a major hydropower project as a part of its 14th Five­Year Plan (2021­25), on the Yarlung Zangbo River (upper stream of the Brahmaputra River), in Mêdog County in Tibet.

ABOUT CHINESE PROJECT

• The station is expected to provide 300 billion kWh of electricity annually.
• As per Chinese authorities, the project will help the country realise its goal of reaching a carbon emission peak before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060.

INDIA’S REACTION 

• Indian counterparts have reiterated their plans to dam the Himalayas on this side of the border.
• Reportedly, it is considering a 10­ GW hydropower project in Arunachal Pradesh.

PROJECTS CURRENTLY IN WORK

• There are two Indian hydropower projects in the works in Arunachal Pradesh on the tributaries of the Brahmaputra: the 600 MW Kameng project on the Bichon and Tenga Rivers and the 2,000 MW Subansiri Lower Hydroelectric Project.
• China has already completed 11 out of 55 projects that are planned for the Tibetan region.

MISADVENTURES OF THE PROJECTS

• In this mad rush of one upmanship, both countries ignore the unviability of such ‘super’ dams projects, given that the area is geographically unstable.
• As Himalayas are most vulnerable to earthquakes and seismic activity causing severe landslides, which, in turn, causes heavy siltation. This siltation severely reduces the water holding capacity and life expectancy of the dams. Desilting of dams is not an economically viable proposition and is technologically challenging.
• Even without earthquakes, the steep slopes made of soft rocks are bound to slide due to deforestation and road­building. These activities will get intensified as part of the dam building initiatives. 
• Thus, making the northeast Himalayan bend with its deep gorges as the most unsuitable location for dam building.
• Also, we do not know how reservoirs with their water load would alter the existing stresses and strains on the earth’s crust in the long term, impacting the frequency of earthquakes and their mechanisms.

VULNERABILITY OF THE HIMALAYAN REGION

• High seismic zones coincide with areas of high population concentration in the Himalayan region where landslides and glacial lake outburst floods are common.
• About 15% of the great earthquakes of the 20th century (with a magnitude of more than 8) occurred in the Himalayan region.
• The northeast Himalayan bend has experienced several large earthquakes of magnitude 7 and above in the last 100 years, more than the share from other parts of the Himalayas.
• The 1950 earthquake just south of the McMahon Line was of 8.6 magnitude, was the largest continental event ever recorded, which devastated Tibet and Assam. It killed thousands, and caused extensive landslides, widespread land level changes, gaping fissures and water and mud oozing in the Himalayan ranges. This dammed the rivers. Later the dams were breached generating flash floods in the downstream sides, seriously silting the drainage systems.
• Thus,  fast developing hydro projects  in the region can further add on to the problem.
• The 2015 Gorkha earthquake of magnitude 7.8 in central Nepal is the recent example of such destruction. The Earthquake caused Nepal to lose about 20% of its hydropower capacity.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE HIMALAYAN REGION

• The Himalayan range is a transnational mountain chain and is the chief driver of the Asian climate.
• It is a source for numerous Asian river systems and glaciers which are now under the threat of degradation and retreat due to global warming. These river systems provide water for billions of people.

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE?

• India and China need to sit together in order to deliberate on the consequences of such misadventures in an area which is vulnerable to the massive earthquakes.
• According to K. Pandit, a Himalayan ecologist, the upper Himalayas should be converted into a nature reserve by an international agreement.
• He also suggests exploring the possibility of a Himalayan River Commission involving all the headwater and downstream countries.

Rather than engaging in unsustainable dam building activities, India and China, the major players in the region, should  disengage from military adventurism and seek ways of transforming this ‘roof of the world’ into a natural reserve for the sake of humanity, as carbon neutrality cannot be at the expense of the environment.

Reference:

1. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/hazardous-ideas-for-the-himalayas/article33322132.ece