Whilst I recognise the importance of mountain roads, I have long expressed concerns about the environmental degradation that they cause<\/a>, using Nepal as a case study.\u00a0 A commentary (Sudmeier-Rieux et al.<\/em> 2019<\/a>) has been published in Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences<\/em><\/a>, which is open access, which examines the issues with mountain road construction in Nepal.\u00a0 The context is the likely convergence between the Chinese Government Belt and Road Initiative<\/a> and the decentralised approach to development in Nepal<\/a>, which together are likely to drive the construction of more mountain roads.<\/p>\n Sudmeier-Rieux et al.<\/em> (2019)<\/a> note the extraordinary development of roads in Nepal in recent years.\u00a0 In 20 years the local road network (for the most part consisting of mountain roads with minimal engineering, often built by a small team with a bulldozer) has increased by 1200%. In 2011\/12, they note that Nepal spent 8% of its national budget on road construction.\u00a0 But, as the authors note, Nepal’s mountain roads “are in a treacherous state, subject to frequent rockfall, landslides and accidents”<\/em>. The roads lack drainage and slope support, often driving the destruction of irrigation schemes, burying springs and contaminating water supplies, leading to severe losses due to erosion.<\/p>\n The image below shows a typical mountain road in Nepal, illustrating the problem:-<\/p>\n A typical poorly engineered mountain road in Nepal.<\/p><\/div>\n .<\/p>\n It is easy to find examples of these impacts of mountain road construction in the Hill Districts of Nepal:-<\/p>\n Google Earth images of the environmental impacts of poorly constructed mountain roads in Nepal.<\/p><\/div>\n The authors make a strong argument that the problem is political not technical.\u00a0 The engineering techniques exist to make these mountain roads sustainable.\u00a0 Sudmeier-Rieux et al.<\/em> (2019)<\/a> argue that the major problems with these poorly constructed mountain roads can be managed if “government policies were enforced to achieve well-established road engineering designs, including basic standards of road grading, alignment, drainage and bioengineering”.\u00a0 They argue that the move to decentralisation of power in Nepal, and the influence of the Belt and Road Initiative, provides the mechanisms to exert this control.<\/p>\n It is hard to disagree.\u00a0 Sadly, I have little confidence that it will happen, and I fear that we will now see a new wave of road construction driving increased landsliding in Nepal, with high levels of loss and more environmental damage.<\/p>\n![\"mountain](\"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/files\/2019\/04\/PICT0348-e1554100445181.jpg\")
![\"mountain](\"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/files\/2019\/04\/19_04-Nepal-1-e1554100941563.jpg\")
Reference<\/h4>\n