The Himalayas consist of several parallel ranges running
west to east, from the Indus River Valley to the Brahmaputra
varies in width from 400 km in the western Kashmir-
Xinjiang region to 150 km in the eastern Tibet-Arunachal
Pradesh region.2 The Himalayas stretch across six countries:
The Himalayas are undoubtedly a world heritage. All
14 of the highest peaks in the world, called the “eightthousanders”
(peaks with heights greater than 8,000 metres)
are in the Himalayas . While UNESCO has declared the
World Heritage Site,3 there are hundreds of such undeclared
locations of equal magnificence and significance in the
The name itself literally means “the abode of snow,”
and the Himalayan region is sometimes called the “Third
Pole,” as it has the most highly glaciated areas in the world
outside of the two Polar regions . It has huge stocks of water
in the form of snow and ice, with a total area of 35,110
km2 of glacier and ice cover, and a total ice reserve of 3,735
km3.4 Hundreds of small and large rivers originate and run
through the Himalayan region. It is the source of some of
the largest rivers in Asia – the Indus, Ganga, Brahmaputra ,
and Irrawaddy – the basins of which are home to millions
of people. Glacial and snow melt is an important source of
the flows of these rivers.5
The rivers that originate in the Himalayas provide
sustenance, livelihoods and prosperity to millions of people
living in a vast area that stretches from the Indus Basin
of Pakistan in the west to Bangladesh
high slopes and huge quantities of fast-moving waters, the
Himalayan rivers have always been looked upon as having
large potential to generate hydroelectric power. Some of
the earliest and largest hydropower stations in the countries
of the Indian subcontinent have been built on Himalayan
rivers; for example, the Bhakra Nangal project in India
the Tarbela project in Pakistan
Recent years have seen a renewed push for building
dams in the Himalayas . Massive plans are underway in
dams in the region, with over 150,000 Megawatts (MW) of
additional capacity proposed in the next 20 years in the four
countries. If all the planned capacity expansion materialises,
the Himalayan region could possibly have the highest
concentration of dams in the world.
This dam building activity will fundamentally transform
the landscape, ecology and economy of the region and will
have far-reaching impacts all the way down to the river
deltas. Submergence of lands, homes, fields and forests on
a large scale will displace hundreds of thousands of people.
Damming and diversion of rivers will severely disrupt the
downstream flows, impacting agriculture and fisheries and
threatening livelihoods of entire populations. Degradation
of the natural surroundings and a massive influx of migrant
workers will have grave implications for the culture and
identity of local people, who are often distinct ethnic groups
small in numbers. As the entire region is seismically active,
