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Over a month ago, on July 7, following an intense spell of monsoon rain, a mountain slope collapsed at the construction site of the Anakkampoyil–Kalladi–Meppadi twin tunnel project in Wayanad, Kerala. The incident killed at least eight construction workers and injured ten. The project had been granted environmental clearance in June 2025 along the same stretch of the Western Ghats, which had witnessed two major rainfall-induced landslides previously: Puthumala in 2019 and the devastating Mundakkai–Chooralmala landslides of July 2024, which claimed over 300 lives.

After the incident, the Kerala government initiated investigations into allegations that the contractor had failed to remove the excavated soil and had not complied with the conditions stipulated in the environmental clearance. Those questions are now before the authorities. They also point to a less discussed yet pertinent issue that warrants introspection: whether the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process in India should evolve in an era of climate uncertainty.

Limits of a pre-climate framework

The EIA framework in India was originally designed to anticipate environmental risks posed by major infrastructure projects before they are approved. Conventional assessments are carried out on the assumption that historical environmental conditions offer a reasonable basis for predicting future impacts of such projects. But climate change is increasingly weakening that assumption: rainfall patterns, hydrological systems, and landslide risks are changing. 

The EIA notification, 2006, the legal framework governing environmental impact assessment in India, has long been........

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