Himalayan Blunders

Context: Mindless ‘development’, without understanding mountain eco-systems fragility, glacial behaviour, climate change, could bring more calamities like Chamoli and Kedarnath floods.

Reasons for rising Ecological Calamities in the Himalayas: with reference to recent Uttarakhand floods

• Temperature shift: studies show that current winter season has seen little rain and snow, with temperatures being highest in the last six decades. Winter forest fires are indicative of this.
  • The effects of chemical weathering were much more active in the higher Himalayas.
• History of lake burst in higher Himalayan reivers: Lake burst of 1968, Barital lake burst during 1970 Alaknanda floods.
• Human interference: Developmental activities in the Himalayas are not following appropriate methods, resulting in increased destructive powers of the calamities like earthquakes, avalanches.
  • Building of dams: obstructs natural river flow; Water and silt tend to dominate the surrounding downstream areas. 
  • Building of roads: disturbs natural ecological and economic role of a forest system by building roads with dynamiting and “dig and throw” method in fragile Himalaya.
• Lack of judicial and administrative enforcement: 
  • The Supreme Court of India (SC) and the Uttarakhand High Court have given judgments against the construction of dams in the inner Himalayas. (also formed a committee for Chaar Dham Project.)
  • The Ravi Chopra committee: recommended closure of all the 24 hydro projects in question by Wildlife Institute of India. 
• Lack of rigorous research: on the ecological history of the area, cost-benefit analysis, displacement of communities, destruction of biodiversity, before operating road and hydro projects.
• Issues with the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA): 
  • Earlier it was carried out by independent experts, but now it is assigned to a government agency, compromising its efficacy.
  • During the lockdown, the government changed the EIA rules and diluted labour laws.
• Failed weather predictions: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) failed to predict the monsoons correctly (predicted to reach Uttarakhand on June 27-28, while it reached on 16-17 with 400% rain)