A borderless threat in a region governed by borders

The political boundaries we draw across the map of the Himalayas are a dangerous fiction. They may make sense on a government map, but they mean very little to a mountain, a glacier or a river. While diplomats and governments dispute over lines, the mountains themselves operate on a completely different scale.

Natural hazards do not respect national sovereignty. They need no visa to cross borders, nor do they wait in the queue at immigration. A landslide does not stop at a checkpoint. A flood does not check which side of a river it is on. A collapsing glacier certainly does not care where one country’s territory ends and another begins.