'Climate-Resilient Infrastructure' Is More Than A Buzzword In The Himalayas Beset By Extreme Weather

Proudly celebrated as the “crown of the country”, it is now, lamentably, turning into a graveyard of people, property, and infrastructure. State of India’s Environment Report 2024 (Centre for Science and Environment) warns that the region has already crossed one or more ‘tipping points’.

The region has emerged as a hotspot of climate change-induced disasters, accounting for 44% of India's disasters between 2013 and 2022.

In February 2021, flash floods in the Rishiganga and Dauliganga rivers (Uttarakhand) claimed the lives of 31 people and destroyed three Hydroelectric projects in the region. The Kishtwar flash floods of August 2025 claimed the lives of at least 65 people and caused damage worth hundreds of crores. 

For instance, in Joshimath town, a spiritual gateway to Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib, around a thousand houses, hotels, and lodges were rendered unsafe for use. The Silkyara Tunnel Collapse of 2023 captured national attention during the prolonged rescue operations.

More recently, cloudbursts in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh (July 2025), Dharali, Uttarakhand, and Ramban, and Jammu & Kashmir (August 2025) left dozens dead and the infrastructure in ruins. The Vaishno Devi landslide tragedy (August 2025) took the lives of at least 35 devotees.

These are only a few entries from a long and growing catalogue of climate change-related disasters in the Himalayas. The rising trend in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events clearly multiplies the risks faced by infrastructure projects.

Yet, ongoing infrastructure planning, design, and practice often overlook future risks, focusing solely on historical risk patterns. For climate resilience, these risks need to be assessed and integrated into the planning, design, and development of infrastructure.

But are climate change and infrastructure really linked?

Both A Victim And A Culprit

Both climate change and infrastructure are closely linked. Climate change is a direct threat to the infrastructure assets and services, as well as a source of multiple indirect risks. The direct risks are evident from the damage to roads, bridges, hydroelectric projects, tunnels, and communication infrastructure, such as cell towers, due to climate change-induced disasters. Indirect risks are apparent as infrastructure damaged in one place affects the service provided at other places, such as a damaged hydropower project in the Himalayas will affect the power supply in the Northern plains.

The infrastructure is not only a victim but also a culprit, worsening the risks. Forest fires that could erupt due to sparks in electricity transmission lines and mass movements may be induced due to undercutting for the construction of highways and railways. Third evidence for the intimate relationship is that climate change necessitates new infrastructure, such as the demand for the creation of more dams to check flooding.

This two-way link between both calls for a fundamental shift in the practice of infrastructure conception, planning, design, production, and management, with climate resilience as a central tenet of every stage to ensure it is resilient and adapted to climate change.

This applies to existing infrastructure as well, which may be replaced or retrofitted to be responsive to the risks.  A 2024 report by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), titled “Infrastructure For A Climate-Resilient Future”, held that investments in infrastructure resilience may yield benefits four times the investment.

For this to happen, the report notes that climate resilience has to be embedded throughout the life cycle of the infrastructure. This includes understanding and assessment of the current and future risks due to climate change, followed by their integration into the life-cycle of the infrastructure asset right from its inception. This will require huge investments; however, provided the risk, the investor confidence may be low.

It necessitates government intervention to set the stage right. What should it do?

What Should India Do?

As established, climate change-induced disasters are expected to increase in frequency and intensity, and India can no longer rely on traditional patterns of infrastructure planning and investment in the region. To mitigate the climate change-induced risk and boost investor confidence, climate resilience has to be at the core of design, construction, and maintenance. This can be achieved through several measures:

Firstly, the climate information provided to the designers and practitioners has to be actionable. This means to go beyond historical data and incorporate projections of both likely and extreme weather scenarios into infrastructure, from planning to maintenance. It requires coordination among relevant actors. Second is the need for the creation of practical guidelines; that guidance has not only to be scientifically sound but also practical. Also, these guidelines should reflect local conditions and priorities.

Thirdly, every stage of the lifecycle of the infrastructure, from planning to maintenance, has to be shaped by climate resilience. Risks have to be identified in all possible scenarios and accounted for across the life cycle.

Investment Factor

Fourthly, the investments in the region are risky, and investment in resilient infrastructure can be lucrative, but such projects have a long gestation period. The investments, whether public or private, should be guided by risks. The innovative financing mechanism should be explored to cover upfront losses and ongoing maintenance.

Nature-based solutions should also be incorporated throughout the infrastructure asset life cycle, including training of the workforce, valuation frameworks, and project appraisals. Then, close the infrastructure gap by proactively mobilising climate finance and development bank soft loans.  

Need For Collaborative Approach

And, finally, there is a need for a collaborative approach across the states within and countries in the region while adopting localised and place-based solutions. This is important as the challenges are shared across the region.

Heart-wrenching stories from the Himalayas can’t be ignored anymore. Each flash flood, every landslide, each cloudburst is a subtle reminder that mountains are not taking it anymore.

And building more without building better is a perfect recipe for death and loss. What is needed is not just infrastructure in the region but also respect for the fragile ecosystem.

It can be done by weaving resilience into every aspect of development. The resilience in the region is not a luxury anymore: it is a sheer necessity for survival. For the crown to be safeguarded, development has to be reimagined as a product of respect and wisdom. The Himalayas have protected us for centuries; now, it is our turn to pay back.

(The writer is a research fellow at IIM-Ahmedabad. Views are personal.)