There is a widespread deployment of military personnel and related infrastructure in the Himalayan region, which has an unresolved border dispute involving Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, China and Bhutan.
According to UNEP, the environment “continues to be a silent victim of armed conflict around the world.” This is particularly evident on the Tibetan Plateau, where rising tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China are having dire consequences.
Following clashes between Indian and Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in June 2020, India has deployed more than 68,000 soldiers, 330 infantry vehicles and over 90 tanks. Large-scale infrastructure projects, including bridges, roads and helipads, are also being constructed.
The situation on the Chinese side is unclear, but one report said that in addition to a large-scale deployment of border defense forces, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has also mobilized additional conventional combat troops.
Naturally, this massive military presence has raised concerns about future conflict, but little is said about the profound impact these changes are already having on people and the environment.
Dispossessed of their lands and cut off from cultural networks
There is little information about what is happening on the Chinese side of the disputed eastern region (which India calls Arunachal Pradesh and China claims as its own). Villagers in the West Kameng district have been protesting vehemently against the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) for destroying more than 80% of their 36 square kilometres of sacred forest to make way for a road without prior consultation. The community-managed forest was home to endangered red pandas.
Similarly, residents of Dringmukh in Kamre district staged large-scale protests demanding that the Indian Air Force relocate the bombing range, claiming that indiscriminate bombing had killed livestock, destroyed vegetation and injured villagers. Social activist Bini Ranjan said the exercises were “like war” and that local residents feared for their lives.
The Indian government is not unaware of the environmental impact of these practices. The Wildlife Institute of India last year conducted an environmental assessment of the Mandarthan Field Firing Range in Ladakh, west of the LAC. While acknowledging the site’s strategic importance, the institute noted that ammunition waste had made the land dangerous for humans and animals and polluted the water. In response, it recommended an environmental awareness training program for military officers. Despite these findings, the National Wildlife Board approved several projects in the Changthang and Karakoram Wildlife Sanctuaries in Ladakh without conducting an environmental assessment, including the diversion of 1,259.25 hectares of land from the Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary to the Mahe Field Firing Range in November 2023 to strengthen defense infrastructure near the LAC.
Recommendation
The presence of personnel and equipment in ecologically fragile areas is itself a challenge. A March 2022 article cited air pollution from heavy vehicles as the main cause of black carbon accelerating the melting of Himalayan glaciers. “Considering the large amounts of fuel transported and burned for military operations, the Indian side alone emits about 300,000 tonnes of CO2 per year,” said Sonam Wangchuk, an environmental activist in Ladakh, adding that China's emissions are “slightly higher” and Pakistan's slightly lower. Together, the two countries emit about 1 million tonnes of CO2 in the region, he said.
While it is difficult to assess what is happening on the Chinese side, large-scale deployments and military exercises are also likely to affect the region's ecosystem. For example, in August 2021, the PLA Tibetan Army Command conducted a joint exercise at an altitude of 4,700 meters, firing thousands of rounds of mortar shells, rifles, grenades, and rockets, and involving dozens of tanks and infantry fighting vehicles.
Communities sandwiched between the military belts of the Himalayas have historically enjoyed free trade and cultural exchange, but since the colonial period, the indigenous peoples of these lands – the rightful owners of their land and resources – have become a source of friction between India and China.
The Champa people are denied access to their traditional grazing grounds on the western side of the LAC, and the Mishmi people in the east have lost their cultural ties with subgroups on the other side of the LAC since 1962.
Champa shepherds have traditionally grazed their sheep along the area now defined as the Line of Actual Control between India and China (Image: Alamy)
Diplomatic efforts offer hope
But there is still hope: Protecting biodiversity could help curb militarization and its harmful effects on humans and wildlife. In April 2023, China adopted the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Ecological Protection Law, promoting the conservation and protection of the plateau.
Similarly, in India, the Supreme Court passed an interim order on the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act, 2023 in February 2024, initially excluding “forests located within 100 km of the international border or LAC” from protection. Though the final order is pending, the court has urged the government to give attention to all forests.
Such incremental legal steps could help mitigate the ecosystem degradation caused by militarization and ease tensions. Sunita Chaudhary, an ecosystem services expert at the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), recently declared that degradation of the Himalayan ecosystem “is so advanced and accelerating so rapidly that it poses a threat to the life of not only animals and plants but also human communities.” Himalayan ecologist Maharaj K. Pandit argues that “diplomacy is the only hope.”
The demilitarized zone between North and South Korea is also a unique nature reserve.
The India-China border is one of the most biodiverse regions in the world and contains 4 of the world's 36 biodiversity hotspots, making the establishment of transboundary conservation areas a promising prospect. There is evidence that transboundary conservation areas conserve biodiversity, improve ecosystem services and promote international peace and cooperation.
This may sound radical, but India and China have a precedent for such cooperation: In September 1993, the two countries signed a bilateral agreement on the environment during a visit to Beijing by then Indian Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao.
Other tense border areas have also successfully established transboundary conservation areas, despite decades of border conflict, such as the Condor Kutuku Peace Park between Ecuador and Peru. Another example is the Kalahari Border Conservation Area between South Africa and Botswana, which was established in 2000. Even the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea is a unique nature reserve.
In an interview with Newsweek magazine, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “A stable and peaceful relationship between India and China is important not only to our two countries but to the entire region and the world.” He added, “Through a positive and constructive bilateral relationship at the diplomatic and military levels, peace and tranquility on our borders can be restored and maintained.” In response to the Prime Minister's remarks, China said, “We hope India will work with China to strive to properly handle our differences in order to put our bilateral relations on a healthy and stable track.”
These recent reciprocal and positive actions have raised hopes that preserving Himalayan biodiversity can become a diplomatic priority for India and China, potentially leading to a more peaceful and ecologically stable region.
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