DAMMED IF THEY DO, DAMNED IF THEY DON'T?:

The untapped might of the Himalayas (Stanley A. Weiss, MAY 11, 2005, International Herald Tribune)

What do the following have in common? Nepal's brutal Maoist rebellion. India's violence-racked northeastern states. China's global energy race with India. Warming ties between Pakistan and India. Bangladesh's increasing Islamic extremism.

Answer: water.

Specifically, the thousands of glacier-fed rivers of Nepal and Bhutan, the tiny Himalayan kingdoms sandwiched between India and China. The vast hydro-electric potential of these raging rivers could serve as the centerpiece of a long-term regional energy strategy promoting stability and prosperity across South Asia.

Poverty-stricken Nepal and Bhutan as a regional energy hub? Admittedly, these countries at the top of the world rank near the bottom of virtually every measure of development. Most Nepalese and Bhutanese literally live in the dark, without electricity or potable water.

In Nepal, the nine-year-old Maoist insurgency has occasionally shut down power plants and spooked foreign investors. Having harnessed less than 1 percent of its hydropower potential, Nepal last year imported electricity from India.

Such dire conditions make development more urgent, not less. Just as extreme poverty fuels the Maoist insurgency, better economics can make for better politics. As Farooq Sobhan, president of the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, told me, "energy is an area where all the countries of South Asia have much to gain through cooperation."

For Bhutan and Nepal, exporting hydroelectricity to energy-hungry India could generate wealth beyond their dreams. "Water is to us what oil is to the Arabs," King Wangchuck of Bhutan has said.

They'd do well to recognize that it's a double-edged sword, but can't you just here the enviro-crazies scream over this?

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 11, 2005 8:56 AM