Managing the monsoon

Our ancestors knew how to manage monsoons: they did not settle permanently along river banks, infrastructure was built above the high water mark, and in the plains farmers did not fear floods but learnt to benefit from the nutrient-rich silt that they brought down.

Monsoons were not a time for disaster, but a time to adapt. It was and is a natural process that makes agricultural surplus possible, revives the hydrological cycle, and allows forests to regenerate.

Today, cities have expanded and encroached into flood plains, wetlands that absorbed excess water are built over, natural drainage of rivers are blocked by highway embankments, levees meant to protect settlements make floods worse, haphazard road construction in the mountains have destabilised slopes.

What the media calls a ‘natural disaster’ is actually human induced. The mudslide on the Mugling highway this month that swept away two buses with more than 60 people was partly caused by a road higher up the mountain that had disturbed the slope and deposited loose debris in the catchment area. Like most monsoon ‘disasters’, this was not an ‘accident’ but manslaughter.

The seeds of monsoon disasters are laid in the eight dry months that precede the rainy season. But the media waits till the calamities hit to make it to the news lineup. Poor engineering, bad planning and corruption in construction contracts that cause them are rarely ‘breaking news’. 

Actually, the monsoon is a boon not a bane. Springs that had gone dry flow again, undergrowth destroyed by wildfires have a chance to grow back, plants and animals rejoice with every drop of rain, it is the time to grow food to last the whole year. 

Nepal’s festivals revolve around rain, the anticipation of the monsoon, and celebration of its bounty. The monsoon has always enriched the South Asian civilisation with 80 days during which 80% of the annual rain falls.

The media is complicit in helping government agencies blame nature for the destruction during the monsoon. They deliberately dub the monsoon a ‘season of disasters’. As if government neglect, inaction, poor planning and inadequate preparation were not factors at all.

Extreme weather due to climate breakdown has made landslides, floods, cloudbursts and blizzards more frequent. And that has added another convenient layer of blame for manmade disasters that are supposedly beyond our control. The risk from monsoon calamities can be reduced since all man made problems have manmade solutions.

As argued in this paper last week, ‘Rivers be dammed’, the solution lies in balancing four months of plentiful water with eight months of scarcity. The climate crisis can be averted by ensuring adequate and more equitable supply of water to all Nepalis.

Addressing monsoon or climate-induced disasters in the Himalayan watershed is neither simple nor straightforward. It is a dynamic and evolving challenge that requires sustained efforts and investments over decades. Wrong solutions can be even deadlier for mountain peoples. 

Maladaptation and maldevelopment due to poor and unaccountable governance underscores the importance of holistic and integrated approaches. Maladaptation occurs when efforts to cope with climate breakdown unintentionally increase vulnerability, while maldevelopment includes infrastructure that reflects development practices that harm the environment and exacerbate existing vulnerabilities. 

Both scenarios highlight the need for comprehensive planning that considers the unique socio-economic and environmental contexts of mountain communities.

Effective solutions must be multifaceted, addressing immediate risks while building long-term resilience. Achieving human development goals in the face of climate breakdown for people of the mountains, valleys and plains requires acknowledging the intricate interplay between various factors and committing to inclusive strategies that balance development with environmental sustainability.

Recently, I conducted an informal social media multi-response survey asking "What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word ‘monsoon’?"

The choice of answers were: 1. Season of landslides and floods, 2. Time for intensified agriculture, 3. Time not to travel except in emergencies. 

Most ticked answer 1, meaning most see the monsoon as a time of disaster. 

In fact it is an annual alarm bell to remind us to take care of our mountains, rivers and plains so they can cope with the rainy season. It is time to ensure proper water management and improved agriculture.  

The monsoon keeps getting bad press. We even tell tourists not to come to Nepal during the rainy season when we should be promoting the monsoon as an attraction. 

But more than that it is an annual miracle that is not a time of death and destruction, but a season that makes all life possible.

Ngamindra Dahal is a water and climate analyst with the Nepal Water Conservation Foundation.