Editorials/Opinions Analysis For UPSC 23 January 2026

Content

1. Himalayan Infrastructure, Climate Extremes and Governance Failure
2. BRICS Summit 2026 — India’s Opportunity to Lead the Global South on Climate Resilience

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Himalayan Infrastructure, Climate Extremes and Governance Failure

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Why in News?

Climate Disasters and Contested Infrastructure Decisions

• In 2025, India experienced nearly 331 days of climate-related extremes, resulting in over 4,000 deaths, with Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand facing the highest human and economic losses from floods, landslides and avalanches.

Scale and Pattern of the Himalayan Crisis

Intensification of Climate Extremes

• Recurrent cloudbursts, flash floods, avalanches and land subsidence across Dharali, Harsil, Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Kullu, Mandi and Kishtwar indicate a structural shift from episodic disasters to a near-permanent climate-risk regime.

Scientific Evidence of Accelerated Warming

• Recent studies show high-altitude Himalayan regions warming nearly 50% faster than the global average since 1950, increasing glacial melt, rainfall volatility, and frequency of compound disasters.

Infrastructure Expansion in a High-Risk Zone

Forest Diversion and Tree Felling

• On 12 November, Uttarakhand Forest Department approved diversion of 43 hectares of forest land, including felling of nearly 7,000 deodar (devdar) trees, for the Char Dham road-widening project, with 10 hectares earmarked for muck dumping.

Flawed Engineering Standards

• The project relies on the DL-PS (double-lane with paved shoulder) norm mandating a 12-metre paved width, despite expert warnings that such standards are unsuitable for fragile Himalayan slopes.

Geological and Glaciological Risk Profile

Tectonic Sensitivity

• The project area lies north of the Main Central Thrust (MCT), a tectonically active zone where large infrastructure is explicitly discouraged due to high landslide and seismic susceptibility.

Glacial Instability

• The region is fed by the Gangotri glacier, among the world’s fastest receding glaciers, sustaining unstable, moraine-laden hanging glaciers, one of which contributed directly to the Dharali avalanche–flash flood disaster.

Ecological Value of Deodar Forests

Natural Disaster Mitigation Functions

• Deodar forests possess deep root systems that stabilise slopes, reduce landslides, act as barriers against avalanches and debris flows, and protect downstream settlements from sudden hydrological shocks.

Riverine and Microclimatic Regulation

• Located within the Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone (≈4,000 sq km, notified in 2012), these forests regulate Ganga water quality, maintain cooler microclimates, and stabilise dissolved oxygen levels in snowmelt-fed streams.

Microbial and Chemical Regulation

• Deodar leaf litter releases terpenoids, phenolic compounds and essential oils, inhibiting harmful bacteria while promoting beneficial microbial communities, sustaining a biologically active and self-regulating river ecosystem.

Legal and Policy Contradictions

Judicial Position

• The Supreme Court of India has explicitly discouraged felling of old-growth deodar forests, recognising their irreplaceable ecological and disaster-mitigation functions.

Ecological Fallacy of Tree Translocation

• Proposals to “translocate” centuries-old deodars ignore ecological realities; uprooting destroys site-specific functions that cannot be recreated elsewhere, making translocation ecologically equivalent to felling.

Char Dham Project – Structural Design Failures

Environmental Governance Lapses

• The project bypassed a comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment through fragmentation, adopted incorrect road-width standards, and allowed vertical hill-cutting on fragile slopes.

Measurable Consequences

• Along nearly 700 km of widened roads, more than 800 active landslide zones have emerged, frequently blocking strategic border routes and undermining the claim of an “all-weather road”.

Engineering Errors and Delayed Remedies

Violation of Geological Principles

• Slopes were cut beyond the natural angle of repose, permanently destabilising terrain; later proposals such as fibreglass bolts and wire mesh cannot correct this foundational design flaw.

Cost of Post-Facto Reinforcement

• Retrofitting measures proposed eight years after construction began reflect reactive governance, increasing fiscal costs while failing to restore lost ecological and geological stability.

Policy Incoherence and Climate Governance

Contradiction with National Climate Policy

• Current actions violate the mandate of the National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem, approved in 2014 to monitor glaciers, mitigate hazards and guide sustainable Himalayan development.

Repeated Regulatory Warnings Ignored

• Unsafe land use—wide highways, deep tunnelling without adequate surveys, and large hydropower projects—has been repeatedly flagged by the National Green Tribunal, yet continues unchecked.

Climate Change as a Risk Multiplier

 From Floods to Future Scarcity

• Accelerated glacial melt triggers a short-term “water peak phase” marked by catastrophic floods, inevitably followed by long-term water scarcity and drought once glaciers retreat fully.

Compounding Human Pressures

• Unregulated tourism, rising vehicular traffic, lack of carrying-capacity assessments and weak solid-waste management amplify climate risks, exposing deep governance and planning failures.

Core Insight and Way Forward

Reframing Development in the Himalayas

• Disaster resilience must precede connectivity; regulating road width, protecting old-growth forests, and aligning infrastructure with geological and climate science is an ecological, economic and national security necessity.

Central Takeaway

• The Himalayan crisis demonstrates that unsafe land use converts climate stress into human catastrophe, reaffirming the axiom that “without the Himalayas, there is no India.”

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BRICS Summit 2026 — India’s Opportunity to Lead the Global South on Climate Resilience

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Why in News?

India to Host the Next BRICS Summit

• India will host the BRICS Summit in 2026, leveraging experience from the G-20 Summit (2023), at a time when multilateral climate cooperation is under strain and the Global South faces rising climate vulnerabilities.

Global Context — Stress on Multilateralism

Polarised Global Order and Climate Pushback

• In an increasingly polarised world, the return of Donald Trump has weakened collaborative multilateralism, with climate change labelled a “hoax” and renewed emphasis on fossil fuels.

Retreat of Traditional Climate Champions

• The U.S. announced withdrawal from 66 international organisations, including the India-led International Solar Alliance, and stayed away from COP30 (Belém, 2025), while Europe faces climate fatigue and security pressures.

Need for a Stabilising Force in Climate Governance

Strategic Space for BRICS

• With Western climate leadership weakening, BRICS can emerge as a stabilising coalition to sustain momentum on sustainability, resilience, and equitable development for developing countries.

Managing Geopolitical Sensitivities

• BRICS is perceived by the U.S. as anti-American and anti-dollar, requiring India to balance BRICS leadership with strong India–U.S. ties, trade negotiations, and sanctions sensitivities, especially on Russian oil imports.

Climate Change as a Common BRICS Concern

Shared Vulnerabilities Across BRICS

• BRICS countries face diverse but converging climate risks: permafrost thaw (Russia), Amazon stress (Brazil), Himalayan instability (India, China), and coastal and riverine flooding across Africa and West Asia.

Continuity from BASIC to Expanded BRICS

• At the UNFCCC, the BASIC grouping has defended developing country interests, but an expanded BRICS offers greater negotiating heft on adaptation, equity, and development space.

BRICS and Global Climate Governance Leadership

Stewardship of the Climate Process

• Several BRICS members have led post-Paris climate negotiations: Brazil, Egypt, and UAE presided over COPs after COVID-19, helping preserve global climate momentum amid geopolitical disruption.

Countering Unilateral Climate Trade Measures

• BRICS can collectively respond to unilateral instruments like the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), ensuring climate action does not become a disguised trade barrier against developing economies.

Climate Finance — The Central Challenge

Rio 2025 Breakthrough

• The July 2025 BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro adopted the BRICS Leaders’ Framework Declaration on Climate Finance, reinforcing long-standing Global South demands for predictable, adequate, and concessional climate finance.

Need to Engage Bretton Woods Institutions

• Effective climate finance requires engagement with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, not just reliance on the New Development Bank.

Shrinking Private Climate Finance

• U.S. climate scepticism is reflected in reduced corporate commitments, pullback from ESG norms, and declining interest in green bonds, making public multilateral finance even more critical.

Expanding Weight and Voice of BRICS

Demographic and Economic Scale

• Expanded BRICS (including Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, and UAE) represents ~50% of global population, ~40% of global GDP, and ~26% of global trade, giving it substantial agenda-setting capacity.

Global South Representation

• BRICS increasingly mirrors the aspirations of the Global South, enhancing legitimacy to push for resilience, equity, and development-oriented climate pathways.

India’s Strategic Opportunity as BRICS Chair

Aligning Climate Leadership with National Interest

• A BRICS focus on climate resilience and inclusive green growth aligns with India’s domestic priorities and reinforces the global leadership narrative of Narendra Modi.

Geopolitical Balancing

• Indian leadership within BRICS can check China’s attempts to monopolise green leadership, while reinforcing India’s multi-alignment strategy showcased during the G-20 Delhi Summit.

Forward Linkages and Strategic Significance

Continuity with Future Climate Processes

• A resilience-focused BRICS agenda would resonate with Ethiopia, host of COP32 (2027), helping maintain developing-country coherence across successive global climate forums.

Core Takeaway

• The BRICS Summit 2026 offers India a rare convergence of diplomacy, climate leadership, and Global South advocacy, where advancing resilience is not ideological but a strategic, economic, and developmental imperative.a

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