The natural disaster that occurred in Nepal due to “glacial collapse” on the Nepali side of the country’s border with Tibet raises a few questions regarding environmental damage, the cross-border impacts of nature’s fury and lack of institutional cooperation among the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) countries. Human actions that damage the environment and cause climate change are often considered a major reason for triggering natural disasters. In Nepal’s case, however, the link between disaster and climate change has not yet been established. A study by Gunjan Silwal et al. shows that glacier loss has accelerated in the Langtang region since 1964. But there has also been an increase in the number of glaciers due to the fragmentation and separation of larger glaciers over the years, the study says. One of the major human interventions damaging the environment is the obsession with hydropower and other structural construction projects to exploit natural resources. In the HKH region, there seems to be competition among countries to construct structures on shared rivers. For instance, soon after the disaster, some Nepalis accused Beijing’s construction work on the course of the Trishuli river of contributing to the flooding. In April this year, Nepal’s government asked China to halt building a safety wall along the Bhote Koshi river, fearing that it may affect the river’s course and may cause damage to its side.Nepal, nevertheless, cannot remain entirely without blame, as it is also building several infrastructure projects to control and exploit natural resources within its sovereign border. According to Independent Power Producers, investments have been made in around 923 projects under the private sector, which are at the different stages of construction. Hydropower race worsens risksFor many analysts, the disaster in Nepal-China relations draws parallels with the India-China situation. In December 2024, Beijing formally approved what will be the world’s largest hydropower project: a cascade of five dams on the Yarlung Tsangpo at the river’s “Great Bend” in Medog county, Tibet, just short of the Line of Actual Control in Arunachal Pradesh. Construction began in July 2025 with a groundbreaking ceremony presided over by Chinese Premier Li Qiang. It has a planned capacity of 60,000 MW, with an estimated cost exceeding $137 billion. The dam can produce around 300 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity annually. Due to its capacity and capability, Qiang has called it the “project of the century.”However, India has raised concerns about it. Bangladesh, another downstream country, also protested the project and asked for detailed technical information about it. But Beijing maintained that the project went through rigorous assessment and emphasised that China would not try to benefit at the “expense of its neighbours.” To counter the impact of the Chinese dam, India has planned “ defensive dams” in Arunachal Pradesh. It has accelerated its push for the Upper Siang Multipurpose Project on the Siang River. This competition in dam building harms the local ecology and makes the region more vulnerable to natural disasters. Tibet and the Himalayas are vulnerable to seismic activity. Before the Nepal-Tibet disaster, in 2025, a devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake claimed more than 100 lives in the Tibetan region. Chinese geologists have already warned of an active fault line beneath the Medog project. India and China are engaging on bilateral issues, but little moves forward in areas where they have differences and disputes. During the recent meeting between Indian and Chinese Special Representatives, Ajit Doval and Wang Yi, the two sides agreed to push for “early and substantial harvest” for border delimitation, yet nothing was substantially concluded.During the meeting, it was also agreed to hold “the next meeting of the India-China Expert-Level Mechanism on Trans-border Rivers in September and maintain communication on issues including hydrological data sharing and renewal of the relevant MoUs.” The memorandums of understanding (MoUs) for sharing data expired a few years ago. Since then, it has been expected that the countries will renew the MoUs. Natural disasters don’t abide by boundariesAs the HKH region is witnessing regular natural disasters, cooperation over environmental issues is an urgent requirement. Many of the disasters may have severe impact in a particular area of a country, but they can occur because of human-caused environmental damage across sovereign borders. In some cases, a disaster in one country impacts neighbouring states. In South Asia, in 2010, the member countries agreed on the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Convention on Cooperation on Environment. The convention took effect in 2013. Effective implementation of any agreement is key to judging its success. There were problems with SAARC and it is now in a suspended state. There is the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development in Kathmandu, Nepal, which is an “intergovernmental knowledge and learning centre” that works on behalf of the people from the HKH region.Often, political disputes and differences between major countries of the region keep them at distance and make them engage in strategic games to achieve relative gains over one another. It would be better for the region if the HKH countries soon realised and accepted the fact that disasters do not care about sovereign borders. Therefore, cooperation on environmental issues should be prioritised over strategic confrontation. Amit Ranjan is a Research Fellow at ISAS, NUS, Singapore. Nabeela Siddiqui is an Assistant Professor at VMLS, VMRF-DU, Chennai, India.