8 May 2025, NIICE Commentary 10892
Ridhika Basnet
The Himalayas, a range of young fold mountains, spread through five Asian States- Nepal, China, Pakistan, Bhutan and India- is an area of increasing importance. As a Geographic entity, the Himalayas are kept divided among the different countries of Asia, and thus several problems of Global importance have arisen, which can only be overcome by reintegrating the region, through the broader prospects of Himalayan Diplomacy.
This article will identify the issues that the fractious Himalayas have developed over the years, which are important beyond the Mountains, and which can only be solved through a Regional Approach, moving beyond National Interests.
Assessing the Strategic Significance of the Himalayas
The Himalayas have acquired a Historical Strategic Importance in South Asia. The British colonial government in South Asia prioritized control over the Himalayan region to protect imperial interests and facilitate trade with Tibet. This strategic importance has been continued by India.
Geopolitical Relevance
The modern dynamics of Geopolitics have further enhanced the relevance of a peaceful Himalayan Region. Three of the most influential States of Asia- India, China and Pakistan meet in the Himalayas. The region spans across disputed borders between Pakistan and India in Kashmir, China and India, India and Nepal, and China and Bhutan, as well as a resolved border between China and Nepal. Since the 1940s, areas like Kashmir, Aksai Chin, and Arunachal Pradesh have remained critically sensitive, as claimed by several Nations altogether. Further, the region has witnessed China’s invasion of Tibet in the 1950s, Armed Conflict and Conventional Wars between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, and the Sino-Indian War in 1962. Border skirmishes, High Militarisation, Cross-border terrorism and, more importantly, the Nuclear status of all three conflicting States, make the Himalayas one of the most scenic, securitised and dangerous areas, all at once.
Natural Resources, Hydropower and Tourism
Apart from Geopolitical significance, the Himalayas are a storehouse of Natural Resources, a Biodiversity Hotspot, including plants with medicinal properties, like the Himalayan yew, used in chemotherapy drugs.
Water is by far the most important natural resource, originating from the Himalayas. With high concentrations of Glaciers and Snow, the Himalayas, integrated in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, source of 10 major rivers of South Asia, serving water directly to 210 million people living in the region and 1.3 billion people living downstream. The Himalayan Glaciers thus feed the perennial rivers of the entire South Asia.
Hydropower is another crucial source of energy, harnessed by the Himalayan Rivers. Collectively, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan have a commercially feasible hydropower potential of nearly 190 GW. China's hydropower capacity reached 391 GW by the end of 2021, with hydropower accounting for 16% of the country's installed power capacity and electricity generation, while the iconic Three Gorges Dam stands as the world's largest dam with an installed capacity of 22.5 GW Recently, China through its AI technology has speculated the presence of a large reserve of Rare Earth Minerals in the Himalayas, enhancing its Economic Importance. Tourism in the Himalayas is an industry that is estimated to reach 3.26 billion by 2032. The region is also rich in Pilgrimage sites and is responsible for Climate Regulation.
Cultural Diversity
The Himalayas are also home to more than 52.8 million people, and it has been estimated that the region will have a population of 260 million people in 2061. The region’s Ethnic Composition is diverse, where more than three hundred distinct ethnic groups and language communities have been documented in this region. Ethnic groups like Tibetans, Sherpas, Bhutanese, and Ladakhis have a transnational presence, found in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, and China.
Imepdements to Implementation
The Himalayas hold significant strategic importance in South Asia, but this also makes it a site of transnational conflicts and challenges of Statelessness, Resources, Sustainability, Tourism, Climate Change, Culture and others, that require attention and cooperation.
Nepal and Bhutan are the only Countries that encompass a greater Himalayan region within their Polity. Pakistan, China and India, on the other hand, possess areas of the Himalayan Region in their frontier zones, thus focusing on the Securitisation of the borders, with high militarisation and border tightening, away from a Societal Development Approach.
The Himalayas are also viewed from the narrative of Statelessness. James Scott, in his The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia, mentions ‘Zomia’, a region of frontiers historically formed by the people who rejected the State. The Himalayas form a distinct social reality, isolated from the state's centres, leading to clashes between central authority and local populations. This has fueled demands for autonomy and separatism, resulting in conflicts, insurgency, and social exclusion in regions like Kashmir, India's North-East, and China's Tibet. The overlap of state-centric and anarchist perspectives has created a zone of conflict in the Himalayas.
As resources are limited, but wants never never-ending, a natural conflict develops over the natural resources of the Himalayas. China has been accused of ‘Salami-Slicing” tactics to win over the majority of resources. Water is by far the most disputed resource, with minimal consensus on the distribution of water in the region. After the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty in 2025 between India and Pakistan, the issue of water has been oscillating as a threat of a conventional war. China’s Dam construction project in the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet threatens India and Bangladesh in the matter of water security. Further, the Natural Resources of the Himalayas are depleting due to instances of Climate Change and Environmental issues.
Sustainable Tourism is a difficult feat to achieve with improper waste management and increased pressure on land, causing not only Environmental Pollution, but also depleting the Natural beauty of the Himalayan Tourist spaces. Infrastructural Projects are also a big threat to the Himalayas. A worldwide Climate change impacts the mountains more deeply, melting the ice deposits and thus alarming a water crisis, natural disasters, and impacting Biodiversity. The Himalayas' vulnerability to climate change has significant implications for millions of people, biodiversity, and water systems in South Asia, with far-reaching effects on the entire world.
Himalayan Societies are facing a threat of losing their Culture and Traditional Knowledge. The UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger classifies 73 indigenous languages spoken in the Himalayas as critically endangered. In the International relations and the Himalaya: connecting ecologies, cultures and geopolitics, Alexander E. Davisa, Ruth Gambleb, Gerald Rochec and Lauren Gawne have identified that a slow violence of language and culture endangerment due to the State’s imposition of the Majority lingua franca results in the loss of traditional knowledge and potentially exacerbating environmental degradation
Conclusion
The Himalayas face complex, interconnected challenges, including environmental degradation, social-cultural-political sensitivity, and militarisation, requiring a shift from state-centric governance to a regional cooperation framework. Current Himalayan diplomacy faces challenges in effectively addressing complex regional issues, including water sharing, border disputes, and environmental degradation. Thus, the Himalayan Diplomacy needs to be enhanced and a Regional Cooperation Framework needs to be established, which will look beyond the national Interest of the States, and towards the prosperity of the whole of the Himalayas.
Ridhika Basnet is a Research Intern at NIICE & she is currently pursuing her Master's in International Studies at Christ University, Bengaluru, India.
