There is a pressing need to expand and improve border infrastructure, especially along China’s long border. Beijing should be incrementally’mainstreaming’ its peripheries. It is dangerous to ignore the fact that India’s longest frontier is located in the ecologically fragile Himalayan Region. These activities have global and regional implications. Security implications are also posed by climate change, biodiversity loss, environmental degradation and other factors like climate change. Therefore, all undertakings, even those that are related to strategic needs must mitigate the impacts.
GoI should create a specialized committee made up of multidisciplinary experts. This committee will review and establish environmental norms for pipeline project and conduct advanced studies for future ones. The committee should explore ways to create infrastructure that has the least environmental footprint. As the project proponent, GoI accepts a self-compliance system. However, it is important to have independent audits done to assess the project’s environmental viability as well as its impact during operation. Security will not be hampered by environmental norms.
