A Revival of Chipko spirit Needed in Chamoli

Context: Recent disasters in the Himalayas warrant urgent policy response and a Chipko spirit. 

Possible reasons for increased disasters in the Himalayan region

• Rising trend of extreme warm events: and drop-in extreme cold events.
  • Leads to glacial destabilisation and help in the basal melt, which can trigger ‘wasting’ events.
  • Melting of permafrost due to warming will increase the risk of rock avalanches from steep slopes.
• Increasing variability in Western disturbances: leading to Increasing variability snowfall.
• Enhanced risk of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs).
  • There are 4,000 to 8,000 glacial lakes spread across the entire Hindu Kush Himalayan region.
  • E.g. South Lhonak glacial lake in Sikkim and Geepang Gath glacial lake in Chandrabhaga basin in Himachal Pradesh are expanding.

Required policy response: to check cascading disasters in the Himalayas.

• Three-pronged response to GLOF:
  • Study and monitor glaciers and glacial lakes continuously.
  • Linking studies with existing framework of National Mission for Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem.
  • Use Engineering Solutions: e.g. for siphoning water from identified glacial lakes which were already experimented in the south Lhonak glacial lake in Sikkim.
• Develop permanent research bases and stations in the third pole (the Himalayas): Based on experience in polar research in the Arctic and the Antarctic. 
  • The National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (Ministry of Earth Sciences) has established a high-altitude station, Himansh, in Spiti, at an altitude of 13,500 ft. 
  • The third pole research endeavour should cover all aspects of climate change, glaciology, hydrology, livelihoods and agriculture
• Develop/implement early warning systems: For the mitigation of glacial lake bursts and landslides.
• Evidence-based policy making: By mainstreaming climate change and environmental concerns in all developmental activities.
• Check circumvention of environmental norms: as seen in Char Dham project, where it was broken into 53 smaller projects just to evade the mandatory Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) studies.
  • Regulate smaller hydropower projects: As it may fudge the EIA process while its cumulative environmental impacts are high and monitor compliance according to environmental conditions.