Climate change a trigger, not the whole story: Himanshu Thakkar on the Rasuwa flood disaster

Counterview News 

The devastating flood that swept through Nepal's Rasuwa district on August 26, 2026, was likely triggered by climate change, but the scale of the tragedy was determined by human decisions — including the unchecked proliferation of hydropower projects in a fragile Himalayan landscape, according to Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP).

In a written interview published on SANDRP's website under the title "Every disaster also presents an opportunity to learn," Thakkar pushed back against the tendency to attribute the disaster solely to climate change, while acknowledging its role.

"Climate Change is a likely trigger for the Rasuwa flood disaster that Nepal and Tibet are facing, starting from the morning of Aug 26, 2026, though the scientists say this needs further studies," Thakkar said. "But the extent of the disaster depends on a number of factors including callous way in which major interventions have been taken up in the region, including large number of hydropower projects, knowing fully well the inherent vulnerabilities of the Himalayan region accentuated by climate change, by lack of early warning systems, absence of functioning disaster management system including emergency action plans".

His comments came in response to a question about Nepali Prime Minister Balendra Shah's statement that the Himalayan region's risks were increasing with climate change — and whether it was sufficient to blame climate change while ignoring "the role aggressive development poses in an ecologically fragile zone".

Hydropower Projects as "Force Multipliers"

Thakkar has repeatedly warned that hydropower projects in mountainous regions act as force multipliers during disasters — a point he elaborated on in a separate written interview with the Hankyoreh newspaper published on September 3, 2026. In that interview, he noted that 11 hydropower projects across the Rasuwa and Nuwakot regions, including the Upper Trishuli-1 site, were damaged in the recent floods and landslides.

"Every hydropower project involves most of these: dams, tunnels, blasting, deforestation, displacement, submergence, drying up rivers downstream, muck dumping, mining of materials, approach roads, and town strips, etc. Each of these tends to increase the disaster vulnerability of the landscape," Thakkar said. "During operation, too, these projects often increase vulnerabilities by creating avoidable floods in downstream areas. Lack of early warning systems, disaster management plans and their implementation, and lack of accountability in governance mean they further increase disaster impacts".

He added that the region has seen repeated disasters in recent years — including in July 2025 and September 2024 — when hydropower projects and other infrastructure suffered damage.

"Since there is no serious attempt to learn lessons from disasters, we are likely to face more tragedies," he warned.

A Call for Independent Review

Thakkar called for a comprehensive and independent review of hydropower projects in the region, including those under construction and those already damaged. "The reviews have to be done by a team of independent experts, not involving any conflict of interest," he said. He also called for a credible cumulative impact assessment, a climate change assessment of the specific region, and an assessment of what happened in the disaster and what lessons can be learnt.

He further urged bilateral climate monitoring efforts between Nepal and China, and between India and Nepal, along with information-sharing agreements and protocols. "A review of the involvement of international funding of various kinds, including bilateral (including South Korean) funds, should also happen before going forward," he said. "All the agencies need to follow the guidelines of the World Commission on Dams in taking up hydropower projects".

"Business as Usual"

Thakkar also criticized international financiers, including the International Finance Corporation under the World Bank, for treating such projects as "business as usual" despite awareness of the risks. "They know they will get away with shoddy [studies] or no studies or necessary measures," he said. "They also possibly assume that not all projects in such regions will be hit by disasters, and that even when they do, they can get away with calling them green, climate-resilient measures, certifying hydro projects as green, clean projects when they are not".

The interview's framing — that "every disaster also presents an opportunity to learn" — underscores Thakkar's central argument: that the Rasuwa tragedy should prompt a fundamental rethinking of how infrastructure is planned and governed in the Himalayas, rather than being dismissed as an unavoidable act of nature.