How extreme events can cross borders and affect company operations
In the morning of 26 of August, a huge mass of ice, rock and sediment descended through the Himalayan valleys, on the border between Nepal and Tibet. The collapse of a glacier triggered a sequence of events that led to water and debris reaching communities, roads, bridges and infrastructure.
The disaster left hundreds dead and more than a thousand people missing. Among the missing are local residents and foreigners who were traveling through the region, many of them pilgrims on their way to Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar. Rescue teams continue to search for survivors amid the wreckage.
Behind the numbers, there are families awaiting news, communities that lost their homes and people who had just minutes — or seconds — to escape.
Before being a discussion about economics, climate or companies, the episode is a human tragedy.
But it also highlights something that deserves attention: The impacts of an extreme event can spread far beyond the place where it happens.
When a disaster crosses borders
No Nepal, the force of the flood destroyed part of the local infrastructure and affected roads, bridges, energy systems and important trade connections between Nepal and Tibet. Gyirong Border Post itself, an important link between the two countries, was destroyed.
This demonstrates how a single event can trigger a sequence of consequences.
A destroyed bridge interrupts a route. A blocked road impedes transport. A compromised energy infrastructure affects operations. A supplier unable to produce can interrupt another company, even if located hundreds or thousands of kilometers away.
The risk, therefore, does not end at the physical boundaries of an organization.
The risk that is outside the company
When assessing your risks, a company may know its own assets and operations well, but still unaware of vulnerabilities present in its value chain.
A supplier may be located in a region prone to flooding. A raw material may depend on a single logistics route. An operation may be far from a risk area, but depend on infrastructure that can be affected by extreme events.
This is why environmental and climate risk analysis needs to consider not just where the company is, but also where your resources come from, products and services and which structures are essential for your operation to continue functioning.
The role of climate change
The disaster in the Himalayas also draws attention to the relationship between climate change and risks in high mountain regions.
Researchers are still investigating all the factors that led to the glacier's collapse. Nonetheless, Experts point out that rising temperatures could contribute to ice instability, rocks and permafrost in high mountain environments, increasing the possibility of events such as landslides and glacial collapse. This does not mean attributing an isolated event exclusively to climate change., but recognize that the warming of the planet can change the conditions that favor certain risks. And these risks can take different forms.
Floods, dry, fires, hot flashes, landslides and changes in water availability can affect infrastructure, production, logistics, suppliers and access to essential resources.
From environmental management to resilience
It is in this context that sustainability begins to have an increasingly direct relationship with risk management.
It’s not just about reducing the environmental impacts caused by the company itself. It is also necessary to understand how environmental changes can affect the organization's ability to continue operating.
This requires questions like:
- Which assets and operations are exposed to physical risks?
- Which suppliers are critical to the business?
- There are alternatives if a logistics route is interrupted?
- Which natural resources are essential for the operation?
- How long could the company operate in the face of an interruption??
- What measures could reduce your vulnerability?
From these answers, the organization can develop adaptation strategies, diversify suppliers and routes, strengthen infrastructure, improve monitoring systems and structure continuity plans.
Prepare before reacting
The case of Nepal shows, in an extreme way, how an environmental event can quickly turn into a social crisis, infrastructure and economic.
For companies, the main reflection is not to try to predict exactly where the next disaster will occur.
It's understanding what your vulnerabilities are before an extreme event turns them into a real disruption.
Sustainability, in this case, It also means building organizations that are better prepared to deal with a changing environment.
Because resilience is not just the ability to react after risk happens, is the ability to know him, anticipate it and prepare for it.
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