Adapting To a Warming World

Business Standard     23rd February 2021     Save    

Context: The floods that hit Uttarakhand are a symptom of two critical ecological and developmental emergencies.

Ecological Emergency: due to 

  • Environmental fragility: Make the region susceptible to earthquakes, landslides and flash floods.
    • Overlapping of Indian tectonic plate and Eurasian tectonic plate. 
    • Presence of fast-moving rivers with source in glaciers 
  • Climate change: Heterogeneous glacier retreat (due to rise in temperature) is changing streamflow patterns, affecting the incidence of glacial-lake outburst floods.
    • Exacerbating the risk of flooding and water shortages associated with future climate change.

Developmental Emergency: due to 

  • Ignored environmental fragility: Constructing dams and roads have disrupted natural water flow and slope and encroached on areas exposed to rapid flash floods.
    • Distortion of environment data: responsibility for quantitative and qualitative data on land and water rests largely with agencies that also have regulatory or planning responsibilities.
    • E.g. The Survey of India, The Geological, Botanical and Zoological Surveys and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology.
    • Focus on the cost of construction: The development paradigm is focussed more on the cost of construction and direct benefits rather than evaluating its impact on nature.
    • E.g. the value of increased production for irrigation projects, the value of power supply in hydel projects, cost and time reduction for travel in road projects and so on.
    • Management of water resources: infrastructure project (dams) alters and impacts all riparian states and thus ignores multiple uses of a river downstream. (may also impact precipitation)
      • Governance challenges are increasing because of demographic, economic and ecological changes.

    Way Forward: 

    • Ensure objective, reliable and data on the environment 
      • Strengthen sources of objective data and expand research on climate change impact in universities and research institutions.
      • Using technology: utilise remote sensing capacities offered by the Space Commission.
    • Ecosystem-based approach for evaluation: Road and urban construction in vulnerable areas, land-use projects in dryland areas need to look beyond construction cost.
    • Manage multiple uses of water: Go beyond dispute interstate dispute redressal (under Article 262)
      • Every river-based project should be designed and approved in the context of entire river basin.
      • Ensure cooperative decision making based on a shared understanding of hydrology of the river.
      • Supreme Court judgment in the Kaveri case has recognised waters of the inter-state river as a national asset and cannot be located in any one State.