Climate Change in Hilly Regions of India: Issues and Challenges in Waste Management

Climate change is one of the most intriguing areas of research today and it has enormous effect on the daily livelihood of every single living being. It not only affects the living standards but also creates difficulty with existing choices. The hilly regions, however, face more trouble due to abrupt change in gradients and resulting natural disruptions. As per the estimation of Government of India, the population of Sikkim is 6.5 Lakhs and Himachal Pradesh is 7.1 million by the end of 2017. Sikkim generates nearly 49 metric tonnes per day of solid waste every year where as Himachal Pradesh generates 276 metric tonnes per day of solid waste. It is a big challenge to manage the huge amount of waste generated. Climate change has also quite an impact on solid waste management alternatives. Due to rapid climate change, especially hilly area, rainfall is one of the important factors that affects the collection and treatment process of waste management. Seasonal variation also affects the tourism business which in turn affects waste generation. Difficulties of terrain, socio-economic condition of local people make difficult to prepare a proper plan for waste transportation and disposal. The waste quality of an area also varies with altitude due to some physical properties like moisture content, carbon content, specific gravity, etc. Lower oxygen density in the higher altitudes largely affects the microbial activity. Alternatively, waste management alternatives have also some positive impact on climate change which is attributed to reduction in methane emissions from landfill, reduction of material usage and recycling of materials. Waste management technologies are required to be adaptive to climatic conditions and also the adaptation of the community is also important for overall sustainability of the system. In this paper, the issues and challenges in the waste management due to climate change in the hilly regions of India have been studied. The vice versa effects of climate change and waste management practices have also been reported in order to understand the synergy in them. Case studies have been provided for better illustration of the current scenario. Based on the findings, some solutions have been provided. The findings will help the stakeholders and policy makers in better decision making.