Copyright tribuneindia
With climate change threatening to forestall Himachal’s development trajectory, the first UNDP Himachal Pradesh Human Development Report 2025 has cautioned against rise of temperature by up to three per cent till 2050 along with extremely heavy rainfall and accelerated glacial melting.Signs of climate change in the report include 1.5 degree decrease in temperature since 1901, extremely heavy rainfall, cloudbursts, unpredictable monsoons, seasonal shifts and heat waves. The report becomes even more relevant in view of the fact that the state has suffered Rs 46,000 crore losses in the last five years due to extreme weather events. It points towards rise in number of fire alerts from 714 in 2022-23 summer to over 10,000 in 2023-24.It offers worrisome findings that 70 per cent of the traditional water sources are at risk. The report reviews the state’s progress and vulnerabilities across five key sectors- agriculture, water and forestry, construction and tourism, health, climate finance and governance. Himachal is among the top five states in the country on the SDG India Index 2023-24 besides being a consistently high performer state. Himachal’s Human Development Index (HDI) at 0.78 is also higher than the national average of 0.63.“Himachal has made important strides in mainstreaming climate action into state’s policies but it is imperative to deepen the integration of resilience, inclusivity and sustainability into state’s development journey,” the report says.The report highlights that tourism, which contributes 7.8 per cent to the GSDP, is facing growing risk from declining snowfall and extreme weather events which reduce tourist inflow and threaten hospitality dependent livelihoods. It points towards increasing use of diesel vehicle in construction and tourism despite rising diesel prices.Another cause of concern is the observation made on unregulated tourism and construction activities which are resulting in deforestation, accelerated glacial melt, disruption of water cycles and threatening fragile mountain ecosystems.Construction and tourism are the fastest growing sectors in the state’s economy with construction accounting for 11.5 per cent and tourism 14 per cent of total employment. Unregulated tourism infrastructure is contributing to pollution, waste accumulation. It has also been pointed out that environment degradation is compounded by hydropower expansion and inadequate urban planning.The report highlights that climate change is reshaping Himachal’s health landscape with new patterns of vector and water borne disease, including dengue, diarrhoea and typhoid emerging.The report recommends phasing out subsidies for polluting sectors and embedding climate priorities in state budgeting for aligning financial flow with low carbon and climate resilient development.
