Action urged on emerging water and waste crisis in the Himalayas

With urbanization compounding rapidly rising hazards in the mountains, leading science and policy experts gathered in New Delhi on 3 and 4 December at a first-of-its-kind regional event focussed on the mounting crisis in waste and water in mountain and hill settlements.

Delegates from Bhutan, Nepal, and India to the Parvat Manthan Regional Conclave, jointly organized by Kathmandu-headquarter International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), India described an “emerging crisis” in mountain and hill cities – of floods, droughts, and pollution – and called for urgent increase in finance and planning to mitigate risks.

“Hill cities in the Himalayan region play a critical role in maintaining ecological balance and supporting millions of livelihoods. However, these cities face unique and pressing challenges of accelerating climate change impacting resources, complex terrain limiting infrastructure development and service delivery, and unplanned urbanisation,” Dr Debolina Kundu, Director (Additional Charge) of the NIUA, a premier government think-tank organisation for research in urbanisation.

Dr Kundu stressed the need to address these challenges through targeted, innovative, and sustainable approaches. “The government’s efforts are directed towards improving the over sustainability of hill cities by strengthening the governance of areas falling in the rural-urban continuum, coordination between urban local bodies and parastatal agencies, building capacities of officials and bringing about political-administrative reforms.” She also added that the revenue generation capacity of hill cities need to be strengthened, along with more allocation of grants from various levels of the government.

“In some cities and towns, we have treated rivers in a terrible fashion,” Dr. Jagdish Krishnaswamy, Dean of the School of Environment and Sustainability (SES), Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) told audiences at the conclave – urging mountains to avoid repeating such mistakes.

The diverse and challenging terrain of the mountains and hills highlight a necessity of context specific solutions and approaches to address water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and waste issues.

Experts called for increases in infrastructure planning, accountability, and community awareness to address the interconnected crises in water and waste, as well as greater localization of urban planning, and transboundary collaboration to share knowledge, innovation, and good practice.

• Rajeev Kumar Mittal, Director General of the Government of India’s ₹22,500 crore river conservation project National Mission for Clean Ganga, recommended blending traditional practices with innovation and capacity building.
• Mitra Baral, Joint Secretary of Nepal’s Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, called for greater contextualization of approaches, peer-learning and knowledge-transfer.
• Rinzin Dorji, Chief of Jigme Dorji National Park, under the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, Bhutan cited the need for greater finance, strong local government support and local community participation for waste segregation and management.
• Pragya Pradhan, programme manager at UN-Habitat Nepal spoke of the need for localization for solutions and urban planning, stronger governance, active participation, greater use of data and science, and mountain advocacy.

NIUA has brought together the Indian Himalayan Region’s hill-states and other mountain states under the Hillgrown: ‘Parvat Manthan: Manifestation of clean and sustainable hill states’ launched in 2023.

The platform provides support and knowledge exchange to advance inclusive, sustainable and climate-resilient mountain settlements and achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (especially SDGs 6, 11 and 13).

For more information:

https://www.icimod.org/event/livelihoods-economies/parvat-manthan-regional-conclave/

https://scbp.niua.org/content/parvat-manthan-regional-conclave