Repeated disasters push Himachal Pradesh to test nature-based solutions

Shimla, India | November 3, 2025 – The Himachal Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority (HPSDMA) has partnered with International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and Caritas India to deploy Nature-based Solutions to build resilience in the flood-battered district of Mandi.

The initiative, supported by the United Kingdom International Development, is in response to the rising frequency and ferocity of monsoon hazards gripping the region.

The town of Dharampur, on the Son Khadd river, will serve as the project’s pilot site. Dharampur faces recurrent flash floods that severely damage critical infrastructure. A September 2025 event damaged state-owned buses, nearby buildings, and a school.

This partnership sets out to protect communities and infrastructure with novel Nature-based Solutions that blend biodiversity with engineering. Approaches include the use of living vegetative walls and native plants to stabilise slopes. It will also install a flood early warning systems.

“The conditions in Dharampur and Mandi are part of a larger worrying trend of increasing monsoon-induced hazards occurring throughout our region,” said Duni Chand Rana, Director and Ex-Officio Special Secretary for Revenue and Disaster Management of the Himachal State Government, who inaugrated a workshop held on 3 November “We need to ensure that these Nature-based Solutions are scaled with a community-centric approach.”

The pilot represents a step forward in the proactive management of interconnected risks in a warming world. Since August, teams have surveyed vulnerable watersheds in Mandi and Shimla to map community vulnerability and identify key interventions.

“Climate change, and unsustainable development models are having a dangerously mutually reinforcing impact on the pattern of hazards in this region: making the deployment of NbS and early warning systems so urgent,” stated Saswata Sanyal, Disaster Risk Reduction Lead at ICIMOD. “We hope to be able to roll these approaches out to other mountain zones where they are so badly needed—in Himachal and beyond—once the approaches are tested.”

Technical experts confirmed the strength of the proposed methods. “The use of live vegetative walls, where we mix a variety of soil-binding species like grass, bushes and trees into the gabion walls, provides more strength to slope stabilisation measures,” said Ravi Bhushan Sharma, a retired engineer from the Himachal Pradesh Public Works Department and currently an expert bioengineering solutions consultant on the project.

“We have tested these in other parts of the state and are confident thatthey will be equally fruitful in Dharampur.”

Consulting expert and botanist Vaneet Jishtu of the Himalayan Forest Research Institute emphasised that, “true restoration is only possible if native biodiversity is considered. For this pilot, restoration can only begin when native plant species along with local knowledge of people living in Dharampur is utilised.”

For the community and partners, the intervention is a vital step towards safety. “The scale of devastation in Mandi and across the Himalayan region is truly heartbreaking”, said Fr. Jesudass R., Executive Director of Caritas India “It is reassuring to see that the needs of the affected communities are being addressed through a thoughtful blend of scientific measures and Indigenous wisdom. Caritas India remains deeply committed to ensuring that people’s safety and well-being are placed at the heart of this intervention.”

The project is now moving to implementation, combining ground-level action with advance technology to build a replicable model of resilience for the Hindu Kush Himalaya.

Additional Quotes

Vijay Ratan Khadgi, Community-Based Disaster Risk Management Specialist at ICIMOD: “Emerging hazards in mountain areas arise from the intersecting impacts of climate change and siloed planning.What’s needed is a holistic, risk-informed approach that actively engages all relevant stakeholders. In Dharampur, we are combining community-based flood early warning systems (CBFEWS) for the Son Khad River with nature-based stabilization measures for the power station serving 1,700 households, alongside AI-powered tools to improve last-mile connectivity—moving decisively toward the vision of Early Warning for All.”

Anuradha, Head of Programs at Doers:, “Engaging local NGOs is important to effectively mobilise communities at the grassroots level. It would be wonderful to see how ICIMOD and HPSDMA can work with the state inter-agency groups to build the capacities of local stakeholders on Nature-based Solutions and community-based flood early warning systems.

This work is being implemented by ICIMOD and CARITAS through the Himalayan Resilience Enabling Action Programme (HI-REAP), funded by the United Kingdom International Development.

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Neraz Tuladhar (Raz), Media Officer
Email: media@icimod.org