Sushan Bhattarai

Description: Due to its location on the Tibetan Plateau, Mustang has multiple glacier lakes dammed up by loose moraines, putting the district at a high risk of glacial lake outbursts flooding (GLOF), a risk that only continues to intensify with increasing glacial melt. Alongside, GLOFs, erratic rainfall patterns have caused the Kali Gandaki River to break its embankments multiple times and have led to devasting flooding. Intensified rain has also accelerated the erosion of sedimentary rocks that much of Mustang is situated on, leading to chronic landslides in the district. Since, much of Mustang is a high-altitude desert, decreasing snowfall and snowmelt has led to the drying up of year-around sources of water, causing unprecedented droughts in many villages. Moreover, given the district’s historical isolation, caste based discriminatory practices, and lack of infrastructural development, any disaster will lead to economic decimation the district cannot bear. Likewise, erratic rainfall patterns and lack of a constant water source is affecting the primary agrarian lifestyle of much of the district. The food and water precarities are creating a mass exodus, permanently dislocating communities who have lived in the area for centuries. Finally, Mustang is one of the only places where Tibetan Buddhism a pre-Buddhist religion—Bon—is still practiced; destruction of monasteries and stupas via flooding and permanent migration of the population is threatening to uproot and erase this unique heritage.