"Nepal Floods Revive Calls for Himalayan Ecological Diplomacy and Climate Justice"
GLOF (Glacial Lake Outburst Flood)
sudden failure of a moraine or ice dam releasing a destructive flood downstream.
CBDR-RC
principle that all states share climate responsibility but developed nations bear greater obligations.
The Himalayas are geologically young fold mountains formed by the collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates. This origin gives the range its defining characteristics: deep gorges, steep gradients, and rivers that shift course rapidly. These features also make the Himalayas structurally unstable. Rock layers are fractured and compressed, and glaciers sit above valleys that drop thousands of metres within short horizontal distances. The Bhotekoshi River valley, connecting Nepal's Rasuwa district to Tibet's Gyirong area, is one of the steepest such corridors in the entire range. The river descends from over 5,000 m at the Tibet border to around 600 m near Kathmandu within roughly 80 km.
Himalayan landslides and floods differ fundamentally from those in the Western Ghats. In the Himalayas, the primary drivers are young fragile geology, high seismic activity, steep slopes, and the presence of glaciers and glacial lakes. In the Western Ghats, landslides are driven mainly by intense seasonal rainfall on laterite soils and deforestation on relatively stable, older rock formations. Himalayan events tend to be sudden, high-velocity, and triggered by geophysical processes such as seismic shocks or ice-rock avalanches. This distinction matters for disaster preparedness planning.
Climate change has added a new layer of risk. The Himalayan region is warming at roughly twice the global average rate. Glaciers are retreating faster, leaving behind unstable glacial lakes held by loose moraine dams. When these dams breach, the resulting Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) release enormous volumes of water and debris within minutes. The Uttarakhand glacial burst of 2013, which destroyed areas around the Kedarnath temple and killed thousands, is a landmark example of how glacial hazards translate into catastrophic downstream consequences.
A Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) occurs when a natural dam holding back a glacial lake fails suddenly. The dam can be made of ice or loose moraine material. Failure can be triggered by an earthquake, an ice or rock avalanche falling into the lake, or simply by the gradual weakening of the moraine wall as the glacier retreats. Once the dam fails, the stored water rushes downstream as a fast-moving wall of water and debris. Narrow mountain valleys concentrate this energy, making GLOFs far more destructive per unit of water than floods on plains.
The climate justice dimension of GLOFs is significant. Nepal contributes less than 0.1 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet it absorbs a disproportionate share of climate-driven disaster risk. This asymmetry is the core argument behind the principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC), enshrined in the UNFCCC (1992). The Paris Agreement (2015) acknowledged the special vulnerability of mountainous and small states. …
'Clean energy is the order of the day.' Describe briefly India's changing policy towards climate change in various international fora in the context of geopolitics.
Consider the following pairs:
Principle / Mechanism — Founding Agreement
1.Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC) — UNFCCC (1992)
2.Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) — Kyoto Protocol (1997)
3.Loss and Damage mechanism — Paris Agreement (2015)
Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?
Consider the following statements regarding the Loss and Damage mechanism under the UNFCCC framework:
1.It was first operationalised at COP27 held in Sharm el-Sheikh.
2.It is designed to address climate impacts that cannot be managed through adaptation measures alone.
3.The Paris Agreement (2015) was the first international agreement to formally acknowledge the concept of Loss and Damage.
How many of the above statements are correct?
Which of the following best describes the principle of 'Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities' (CBDR-RC) in international climate law?
With reference to the concept of the 'Third Pole', consider the following statements:
1.The term refers to the Himalayan region because it holds the largest concentration of glacial ice outside the Arctic and Antarctic.
2.The Third Pole is warming at a rate slower than the global average due to its high altitude.
3.Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) are a characteristic hazard of the Third Pole region.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Consider the following statements about the International Solar Alliance (ISA):
1.It was co-founded by India and France.
2.Its membership is restricted to countries located between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.
3.It was launched in the context of the Paris Agreement negotiations.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
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