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HINDU KUSH HIMALAYAN AREA FACES ACUTE WATER STRESS

Analysis by S. M. Zaki Ahmad -Expert Faculty of Ecology & Environment

INTRODUCTION

A recent study conducted by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) has revealed that the "Hindu Kush Himalayan Region" is facing an acute crisis of water insecurity.

The 10-studies series of papers authored by a multi-disciplinary team of physical and social scientists, anthropologists, geographers, and planners, highlights the concerns around unplanned and haphazard development in the region that is leading to problems of inequity in water supply and unequal developmental outcomes.

These new researches assess the challenges of water management in 12 towns from four corners of the Himalayan region. These include, from west to east, Murree and Havelian in Pakistan; Kathmandu, Bharatpur, Tansen, and Damauli in Nepal; Mussoorie, Devprayag, Singtam, Kalimpong, and Darjeeling in India; and Sylhet in Bangladesh.

HINDU KUSH HIMALAYAN AREA

The 10 major rivers of the Hindu Kush Himalayas (HKH) region are: 1. Indus, 2. Ganges, 3. Brahmaputra, 4. Irrawaddy, 5. Salween, 6. Mekong, 7. Yangtze, 8. Yellow,  9. Amu Darya and 10. Tarim.

The Hindu Kush Himalaya stretching over 3,500 kilometres and across eight countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, Myanmar and Pakistan – the Hindu Kush Himalaya are referred to as the world’s most important ‘water tower’, as they are the source of ten of Asia’s largest rivers as well as regarded as the “Third Pole” of the world because the largest volume of ice and snow outside of the Arctic and Antarctica.

The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) is characterized by complex topography, climate, hydrology, and hydrogeology. Each of these factors plays an important role in determining the availability of water for people living in the Himalayas.

The new report by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) based in Kathmandu, Nepal, throws much-needed light on the drivers of water scarcity in the HKH region.

The water stress in the Hindu Kush Himalayas

As water stored in mountains is quickly disappearing because of a rising demand and an excessive melting of glaciers accelerated by climate change, more than 1.9 billion people are already at the risk of water shortage. The crisis is worsening. Half of the springs in the region – the major source of water supply – have either turned from perennial to seasonal or dried up completely.

According to the new study which was done over two years, currently, 3% of the total Hindu Kush Himalaya population lives in larger cities and 8% in smaller towns. But projections by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), by 2050 more than 50 per cent of the population in the Hindu Kush Himalayan countries will live in hill cities.

CAUSES OF CRISIS

According to the research the five areas that intersect to cause the crisis are:

1.   Lack of sustainable sourcing of water: The HKH region is heating up faster than other parts of the world. Increase in average temperatures has caused glacier melt and subsequent changes in hydrological regimes in the region. Most towns in the HKH meet their water needs from springs, streams, ponds, and lakes, which are largely interlinked systems, and their degradation and loss, are leading to widespread water stress.

2. Failing models of water governance: The water insecurity is attributed to poor water governance, lack of urban planning, poor tourism management during peak season, and climate-related risks and challenges. Communities are coping via short-term strategies such as groundwater extraction, which is proving to be unsustainable. There is a lack of long-term strategies for water sustainability in urban centres, and this requires special attention by planners and local governments.

3.     Inequitable distribution of water: There are vast inequalities and differential water rights for people. Experiences of water stress in the countries studied varied greatly over the years and along with the class, caste and gender lines. Rich households in Kathmandu spend 38.2% less on the water than poor households. Nearly 20% of Kathmandu’s poor households do not have access to formal water supply, such as that managed by civic bodies.

4.   The ignored role of women in water governance: The women, who almost always bear the burden of collecting water for the household. In a number of cases, women have greater confidence in the establishment of women’s groups and better local governance. Unfortunately, this ability of women completely ignored in government planning.

5.   The increasing impact of climate change: The climate change is posing serious challenges in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region. The climate change has stressed urban ecosystems by increasing the frequency, severity and intensity of extreme weather events. The changing rainfall patterns and reduced availability of spring water are the major concerns. Most of the studies link climate change in the mountains with the melting of the glaciers. But the HKH critical problem is the changing rainfall and the reducing springs.

INDIAN HIMALAYAN REGION

The Indian Himalayan region covering 10 states and four hill districts about 50 million people and their livestock depend on local springs to meet their drinking water and irrigation needs. Situations of the Indian Himalayan region are the following:

What is Dhara Vikas? Dhara Vikas is an innovative programme to revive and maintain drying springs in the north-eastern state of Sikkim. A robust climate adaptation strategy for drought-prone districts, Dhara Vikas (meaning, spring-shed development) is helping to alleviate the problem of rural water scarcity by reducing surface runoff of rainwater and allowing more water to percolate down to recharge underground aquifers, which, in turn, ensures increased discharge from springs. Besides its significant impact on crop patterns and yields, the programme has also worked on developing a village spring atlas and a water source atlas for the state. Water access to the population through this initiative has also led to improved sanitation practices.

·          Two towns in the Indian Himalayan region – Mussoorie and Devprayag (Uttarakhand) — finds in the current scenario of a changing climate (erratic rainfall, rising heat), natural springs, which are a source of water for the local people, are drying up.

·         As springs dry up in the Indian Himalayan region, a number of hill states have launched their own springshed development programmes to revive these local water sources. These states are:

v  Sikkim: Sikkim is one of the first states to launch a programme way back in 2008-09 — Dhara Vikas — to revive springs. Dhara Vikas involves villagers in reviving springs and streams that provide drinking water to over 80% of the state’s rural households.

What is Springshed development initiative? Springshed development initiative was started in the year 2015 in convergence with People Science Institute (PSI) and watershed Development Component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY). It seeks to address the issues of regenerating springs, streams and underground flows. The prime focus is to identify recharge area of springs and streams and enhance the recharge through community-led (participatory) actions and for proper management and equitable distribution of water.

v  Meghalaya: In September 2016, Meghalaya launched its own springshed management programme after receiving funds under the National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change. It is estimated the state has around 60,000 springs and about 68 per cent of the state’s population depends on these springs for drinking purposes and farming.

v  Mizoram: In Mizoram, 20 springshed development plans are under preparation. Spring recharge activities on pilot basis have been undertaken in five critical springs in Aizwal district.

v  Manipur: In Manipur, the revival of nine springs is underway with the support of NABARD.

v  Nagaland: The land resources department of the Nagaland government is implementing its own springshed management programme since October 2015.

Springshed development works have revived several springs in the hill state of Uttarakhand and local communities have taken ownership to maintain and protect these water sources.

SUGGESTIONS FOR ADAPTATION

The research focuses on five major points that can help in adapting to the issue of water scarcity and the looming crisis induced by climate change in Himalayan towns and cities. These are:

I.     There is a need to source water sustainably to bridge the gap between supply and demand. This could be done by reviving and protecting springs, increased water harvesting, and having multiple sources of water. More budgetary allocations could be made towards the above, so that water sources are protected and managed sustainably.

II.   The governance and management of water beyond water utilities. Polycentric governance, meaning multiple governing bodies and institutions interacting with one another towards a coherent goal of providing access to water, could be a more suitable way to comprehend water governance in Himalayan towns and cities.

III. The equitable distribution of water needs more attention. Because the poor and marginalized are most affected when water supply dwindles. Many cities are faced with the challenge of providing access to safe water for the poor especially in the dry season when supply dwindles.

IV. More appreciation is needed for women’s multiple roles in water management and how they could be part of the planning and decision-making processes to provide solutions.

V.   Mountain cities need to be viewed in the broader context of mountain water, environment, and energy. Climate change impacts on these sectors are presenting new and growing challenges that Himalayan towns and cities have to grapple with.

Conclusion:

The communities of HKH were coping through short-term strategies such as groundwater extraction, which is proving to be unsustainable. The mountain cities need to be viewed in the broader context of mountain water, environment, and energy. A holistic water management approach that includes spring shed management and planned adaptation is therefore paramount.

References:

https://www.newagebd.net/article/102306/effective-water-governance-needed-to-deter-impending-crisis

https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/2020/03/03/thirsty-in-the-himalayas/

https://en.gaonconnection.com/rapid-urbanization-and-climate-change-are-increasing-water-stress-in-the-hindu-kush-himalayan-region/

https://iwaponline.com/wp/article/22/S1/1/72146/Editorial-Mapping-challenges-for-adaptive-water

https://scroll.in/article/954808/mussoorie-and-darjeeling-are-among-13-himalayan-towns-facing-imminent-water-crisis

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/water-governance-needed-50005

https://weather.com/en-IN/india/news/news/2020-03-02-acute-water-scarcity-grips-hindu-kush-himalaya-including-5-indian-hill

S. M. Zaki Ahmad is an expert faculty of Ecology & Environment @ Lukmaan IAS, New Delhi. He was also associated with various environmental movements including Narmada Bachao Andolan.

INDIA STATE OF FOREST REPORT 2019

Analysis by S. M. Zaki Ahmad -Expert Faculty of Ecology &Environment

INTRODUCTION

India’s forest cover has increased by 3,976 sq km or 0.56% since 2017. For the second successive time since 2007, the biennial India State of Forest Report (ISFR) recorded a gain — an impressive 1,275 sq km — in dense forest (including Very Dense Forest with a canopy density of over 70%, and Moderately Dense Forest with a canopy density of 40-70%). The ISFR, a biennial exercise, assesses the forest and tree cover, bamboo resources, carbon stock and forest fires. The top three States showing an increase in forest cover are Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

Nearly 25 percent (one fourth) of India’s total land area is now under forest and tree cover. While the overall forest and tree cover marked an increase on a national level, the report highlighted a decrease in the forest area in the country’s northeast region. This decline in the forest area in the northeast has been an ongoing trend with the region witnessing a loss of about 3,199 sq. km. of forest area since 2009.

MAJOR FINDINGS OF FOREST REPORT

The major findings of the report are following:

v  The India State of Forest Report 2019 released recently shows an increase of 5,188 square kilometres of forest and tree cover across the country compared to the ISFR 2017.

v  However, the report highlights that northeast India continues to lose forests when compared to ISFR 2017 and previous reports.

v  The forest report also reveals that the forest area under the category “recorded forest area” (land notified as forest by the government) in tribal districts, which are home to about 60 percent of India’s forests, is decreasing as well.

v  The report for the first time did an assessment of biodiversity for all states and union territories and found that Arunachal Pradesh has the maximum richness of species in terms of trees, shrubs and herbs followed by Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

What is Recorded Forest Area (RFA)? The term “Recorded Forest Area” (RFA) is used for lands which have been notified as “forest” under any government Act or rules or recorded as “forest” in the government records.

v  According to the 2019 report, the total forest cover of the country is 712,249 square kilometers (21.67 percent of India’s total geographical area) slightly up from 708,273 sq. km (21.54 percent) in 2017.

v  The tree cover of the country is 95,027 sq. km (2.89 percent of the total area) again slightly up from 93,815 sq. km. (2.85 percent) in 2017.

v  The report spotlights that forest cover within the RFA category has shown a slight decrease of 330 sq. km., whereas forest cover outside the RFA has shown an increase of 4,306 sq. km., as compared to the previous assessment of 2017.

STATES AND FOREST COVER

As per the ISFR 2019 data the situation of Indian states are the following:

v  The top five states in terms of the increase in forest cover are:

1.       Karnataka (1,025 sq. km.),

2.       Andhra Pradesh (990 sq. km.),

3.       Kerala (823 sq. km.),

4.       Jammu & Kashmir (371 sq. km.)

5.       Himachal Pradesh (334 sq km).

v  The top five states in terms of total forest cover area 

1.       Madhya Pradesh (77,482 sq. Km)

2.       Arunachal Pradesh (66,688 sq. Km)

3.       Chhattisgarh (55,611 sq. Km)

4.       Odisha (51,619 sq. Km)

5.       Maharashtra. (50,877 sq. Km)

v  The top five states in terms of forest cover as a percentage of their total geographical area

1.       Mizoram (85.41 percent)

2.       Arunachal Pradesh (79.63 percent),

3.       Meghalaya (76.33 percent),

4.       Manipur (75.46 percent)

5.       Nagaland (75.31 percent).

The report also highlighted that there are 62,466 wetlands in the country and amongst the states, Gujarat has the largest area of wetlands (within the RFA) in the country followed by West Bengal.

The ISFR 2019 also showed that the mangrove cover in the country has increased by 54 sq. km. as compared to the previous assessment. The maximum increase was in Gujarat which recorded an increase of 37 sq. km followed by Maharashtra (16 sq. km.) and Odisha (8 sq. km.) but it marked a decrease of mangrove cover in Tamil Nadu (four sq. km.), West Bengal (two sq. km.) and Andaman and Nicobar Islands (one sq. km.).

Biodiversity and ISFR

According to the report, for the first time ever, has carried out a rapid assessment of biodiversity for all states and union territories and maximum tree diversity has been found in tropical wet evergreen and semi-evergreen forests of Western Ghats (Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka) followed by northeastern states.

The low tree diversity has been noticed in the sub-tropical dry evergreen forests of Jammu and Kashmir and forest deficit States like Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.

Among the States, Karnataka has the highest tree species richness followed by Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

MAJOR CONCERNS

Loss of forest in North-East India

The report presents a gloomy picture of the forests in the North Eastern States. The forest cover of six states, excluding Assam, has decreased by nearly 18 percent between 2011 and 2019. The region lost nearly 25,012 sq km of forest cover in a decade.

Major Loss of Tropical Semi-Evergreen forest

While hill forests have gained in quality, large tracts of tropical forests have fallen off the “dense” category since 2017. The biggest loss — 23,550 sq km — is under the tropical semi-evergreen head in SFR 2019. In India, tropical semi-evergreen forests are found along the western coast, lower slopes of the eastern Himalayas, Odisha and Andamans.

Source: Forest Survey of India

Forest Fire

Forest fires are one of the major drivers of damage caused to forests in the country. Uncontrolled forest fires can lead to significant losses of forests and ecosystem services. Studies suggest that climate change influences forest fire frequency and intensity which results in forests becoming increasingly inflammable.

The increasing duration of forest fire season, numbers of large fires, frequency of severe fire years may be related to climate change. Besides direct losses, foresters have to also deal with many side effects of fires such as increasing spread of weeds, soil erosion, loss of regeneration, landslides, habitat degradation, loss of forest produce etc.

Forest Fire: Source FSI

Carbon sink

What is a carbon sink? A carbon sink is anything that absorbs more carbon than it releases as carbon dioxide. European forests are currently a net carbon sink as they take in more carbon than they emit. In climate negotiations, this temporary reduction of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is also known as negative emissions.

India is committed at the highest level to meet its commitments under the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) made to the international community under the Paris Agreement (2015). According to the forestry target under NDC, India has committed to creating additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3.0 billion tonnes of CO2 through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.

According to the report, Arunachal Pradesh has the maximum carbon stock of 1,051.32 million tonnes followed by Madhya Pradesh (588.73 million tonnes), Chhattisgarh (480.25 million tonnes) and Maharashtra (440.51 million tonnes).

Conclusion

The forest report 2019 is important enough to take seriously. Forests or, more precisely, carbon-stock conservation and renewable energy are the two pillars of India’s climate-action commitments. The results of the forest survey are crucial for the global community that has just returned from the 25th Conference of Parties (COP) in Madrid, having recommitted itself to the jaded, even illegitimate idea of carbon markets. India will need a more comprehensive study on the forest to meet the SDG goals 2030.

References

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetailm.aspx?PRID=1597987

https://india.mongabay.com/2020/01/indias-forest-cover-is-rising-but-northeast-and-tribals-lose/

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/reading-the-new-forest-survey-of-india-report-prakash-javadekar-6201259/

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/total-tree-forest-cover-in-country-increases-by-5188-sq-km-forest-report/article30431835.ece
S. M. Zaki Ahmad is an expert faculty of Ecology & Environment @ Lukmaan IAS, New Delhi. He was also associated with various environmental movements including Narmada Bachao Andolan.

Indian forests 'particularly vulnerable' to coal mining: report

By PTI | 4 Dec, 2015
PARIS: Forest area across the globe, larger than the size of a country like Portugal, is at risk from coal mining with five countries, including India being "particularly vulnerable", according to a new report.
The report, "Double Jeopardy: Coal's threat to Forests", by forests and rights NGO Fern said in "India and Colombia, coal mining threatens more than 250,000 hectares (over 617,763 acres) of forest which is equivalent of 400,000 football fields."
Overlaying coal mining concession and forest cover data for four of the world's five biggest coal producers, among other countries, the report shows at least 11.9 million hectares (29.4 million acres) of forest across the world is threatened, it said.

A new report released at the UN climate change conference in Paris shows that "a forest area larger than Portugal is at risk from coal mining worldwide, with forests in Australia, Canada, Indonesia, India, Colombia and the US particularly vulnerable."
The report claims that granting land rights to forest communities can keep forests standing and coal in the ground.
The report cites the case of India, where Forest Rights Act (FRA) has been a vital safeguard against wiping out forests for coal, notably in the struggle between the UK company Essar and the Indian government on the one hand and local tribal people on the other, over the former's plans to create an open cast coal mine in the Mahan forest, in Madhya Pradesh.
It said that burning coal and destroying forests both release carbon into the atmosphere. So when forests are cleared for coal mines the threat to the planet intensifies.
See full report: http://media.wix.com/ugd/c04a21_55722707895847839433655205a851ff.pdf

Press Statement 1/12/15 : Kinnaur in crisis; Sheer Negligence in hydro projects claiming lives. Who is accountable?

In the last two weeks a half a dozen lives have been lost in the Kinnaur region alone in three separate incidents that have one thing in common – accidents at hydropower project sites. The first event took place in Burang village on the 18th of November 2015 where a penstock pipe burst of the 100 MW Sorang Hydro-electric project led to the death of three people. On 29th November, two labourers died in blasting operations in the 450 MW Shongthong Karchham project, some others were seriously injured. And on the same day in the Bhabha Valley, a young teacher lost her life in a landslide that occurred in the area.
Even now more lives are at stake – Four days after the Sorang project disaster on 22nd November, a massive landslide occurred in Chagaon Village, located on the alignment of the Karchham Wangtoo project’s tunnel. While houses and property was damaged fortunately there were no fatalities. More of the area is likely to slide soon. Residents of Panvi Panchayat from Kinnaur carried out a demonstration last week at Shimla protesting the cracks in their houses due to the underground construction by the 9 MW Ralla-Taranda project.
It is time that the Himachal government wake up from its long slumber, because these events are not freak accidents, they are the result of sheer negligence in the construction of hydropower projects in the state. This negligence is evident at two levels – firstly the failure in ensuring compliance to environmental and safety norms by project authorities and the government. The second, is the negligence towards the very impacts of unregulated hydropower development. In both cases the project authorities have shown sheer callousness, continuously ignoring the issues raised by local people and environmentalists.
Now the geological, ecological and hydrological impacts of these projects, especially in fragile zones like Kinnaur are emerging clealry. The government has not just overlooked these impacts but justified each and every project making excuses and even trying to cover these impacts. For instance, the issue of slope destabilisation and landlsides in Kinnaur has been blamed on rainfall fluctuations, floods or other natural factors without conducting any independent studies. The project authorities have gone to the stupid extent of saying that these landslides are occurring naturally in the area. If that is the case, is it not all the more reason that the construction in these regions has to be controlled and regulated rather than allowing disastrous projects like Karchham Wangtoo to come up here?
As far as issues of safety regulations and monitoring goes, there are an ample number of incidences vis a vis hydropower projects that have occurred in the last couple of years apart from the ones that happened in the last two weeks in Kinnaur. The seepage in the Chamera III project that washed off Mokhar village’s habitations, the reservoir of the Aleo-II project in Kullu in its first testing, burst washing off the labour camps (with no fatalities); the seepages in the Karchham Wangtoo tunnel which were noticed in 2011 – are indicators of a disaster waiting to happen. Despite it being mandatory as per the Hydropower Policy 2006 that there will be a safety monitoring authority in the state that will look into the safety quality monitoring for hydropower projects, no such authority existed till recently. As late as August 2013, the Department of Power and MPP issued a notification about the creation of such an authority. Now the government should immediately make public all the work that has been done by this authority in the last two years. The people have a right to know, how often this committee convened its meetings, which are the projects it has monitored and what action has been taken in the cases of negligence and accidents. Has any punitive action been taken against power companies for negligence?
It needs to be put on record, in the context of the 100 Mw Sorang Hydro-Electric Project that the villagers had brought to the company’s notice that there were leakages in the penstock pipe at an earlier date on 8th May 2015. This indicates that there was some technical fault in the project despite which the testing was carried out. Further, it needs to be raised that on the night of the testing (when the accident occurred) no warning was issued by the project authorities while carrying out the testing of the penstock pipe.
Today, the Burang village is nothing less than a danger zone with rock and debris just hanging above heads of the residents. We wonder how the company even had the audacity to carry out construction in an area where there was habitation – even if temporary/ for part of the year. In event of heavy rains or tremors of any sort there will be additional damage and fatality which should be avoided at any cost. All families who are residing in Burang need to be protected so that they do not become victims of yet another accident which will be caused due to sheer negligence of the company as well as the administration, who is now responsible for the safety of the people.
The failure is of the central and state monitoring and regulatory authorities who have ignored the several incidents of landslides, massive erosion, drying up of water sources, sudden reappearance of water sources, deforestation leading to soil erosion, illegal muck dumping etc. Despite the impact of these on the horticulture, local vegetable cultivation, day to day life and safety of the people the government has not taken any action whatsoever on project proponents and have been blind to the issues raised by the affected people time and again.

Now the geological, ecological and hydrological impacts of these projects, especially in fragile zones like Kinnaur are emerging clealry. The government has not just overlooked these impacts but justified each and every project making excuses and even trying to cover these impacts. For instance, the issue of slope destabilisation and landlsides in Kinnaur has been blamed on rainfall fluctuations, floods or other natural factors without conducting any independent studies. The project authorities have gone to the stupid extent of saying that these landslides are occurring naturally in the area. If that is the case, is it not all the more reason that the construction in these regions has to be controlled and regulated rather than allowing disastrous projects like Karchham Wangtoo to come up here?
As far as issues of safety regulations and monitoring goes, there are an ample number of incidences vis a vis hydropower projects that have occurred in the last couple of years apart from the ones that happened in the last two weeks in Kinnaur. The seepage in the Chamera III project that washed off Mokhar village’s habitations, the reservoir of the Aleo-II project in Kullu in its first testing, burst washing off the labour camps (with no fatalities); the seepages in the Karchham Wangtoo tunnel which were noticed in 2011 – are indicators of a disaster waiting to happen. Despite it being mandatory as per the Hydropower Policy 2006 that there will be a safety monitoring authority in the state that will look into the safety quality monitoring for hydropower projects, no such authority existed till recently. As late as August 2013, the Department of Power and MPP issued a notification about the creation of such an authority. Now the government should immediately make public all the work that has been done by this authority in the last two years. The people have a right to know, how often this committee convened its meetings, which are the projects it has monitored and what action has been taken in the cases of negligence and accidents. Has any punitive action been taken against power companies for negligence?
It needs to be put on record, in the context of the 100 Mw Sorang Hydro-Electric Project that the villagers had brought to the company’s notice that there were leakages in the penstock pipe at an earlier date on 8th May 2015. This indicates that there was some technical fault in the project despite which the testing was carried out. Further, it needs to be raised that on the night of the testing (when the accident occurred) no warning was issued by the project authorities while carrying out the testing of the penstock pipe.
Today, the Burang village is nothing less than a danger zone with rock and debris just hanging above heads of the residents. We wonder how the company even had the audacity to carry out construction in an area where there was habitation – even if temporary/ for part of the year. In event of heavy rains or tremors of any sort there will be additional damage and fatality which should be avoided at any cost. All families who are residing in Burang need to be protected so that they do not become victims of yet another accident which will be caused due to sheer negligence of the company as well as the administration, who is now responsible for the safety of the people.
The failure is of the central and state monitoring and regulatory authorities who have ignored the several incidents of landslides, massive erosion, drying up of water sources, sudden reappearance of water sources, deforestation leading to soil erosion, illegal muck dumping etc. Despite the impact of these on the horticulture, local vegetable cultivation, day to day life and safety of the people the government has not taken any action whatsoever on project proponents and have been blind to the issues raised by the affected people time and again.
Issued by
Manshi Asher, Prakash Bhandari and Sumit Mahar
Himdhara Environment Research and Action Collective 8988275737

प्रेस वक्तव्य 1/12/15 :

हाइड्रो परियोजनाओं की लापरवाही लोगों की जिंदगी के लिए खतरा बन गई है
पिछले दो हफ़्तों के दौरान आधा दर्ज़न लोगों को अपनी जिंदगियां गंवानी पड़ी हैं. इन सभी में एक बात शामिल थी . यह सभी लोग हाइड्रो पावर प्रोजेक्ट की साईट पर मरे हैं. पहली घटना 18 नवम्बर 2015 को घटित हुई, बुरंग गाँव में 100 मेगावाट के सोरंग हाइड्रो पावर प्रोजेक्ट का पेनस्टॉक पाईप फट गया जिसमें तीन लोगों की मृत्यु हो गयी. इस घटना के चार ही दिन बाद ही चगाओं गाँव में भू-स्खलन हुआ जो करछम वांग्तु प्रोजेक्ट की सुरंग के पास ही बसा हुआ है. इस घटना में संपत्ति का नुकसान हुआ लेकिन संयोग से किसी की जान नहीं गयी. 29 नवम्बर को ही 450 मेगावाट शोंगथोंग करछम परियोजना में ब्लास्टिंग का काम करते हुए दो मजदूरों की मौत हो गयी और अन्य कई लोग गंभीर रूप से घायल हो गए. उसी दिन भाभा घाटी में एक शिक्षक की मृत्यु भू-स्खलन में हो गयी . कुछ दिन पहले पान्वी गाँव के लोगों ने शिमला में विरोध प्रदर्शन किया था क्यों कि रल्ला तरंडा परियोजना के भूमिगत निर्माण कार्य की वजह से उनके घरों में दरारें पड़ने लगीं हैं.
अब समय आ गया है कि हिमाचल सरकार की खुमारी उतर जानी चाहिये. क्योंकि यह घटनाएँ महज़ सामान्य दुर्घटनाएं नहीं हैं. बल्कि यह राज्य में बनने वाले हाइड्रो पावर प्रोजेक्ट में बरती जाने वाली लापरवाही का परिणाम हैं. लापरवाही दो स्तरों पर दिखाई देती है. पहली, पर्यावरणीय और सुरक्षा के नियमों के प्रति परियोजना प्रबंधन और सरकार के द्वारा बरती जा रही लापरवाही . दूसरी नियम विहीन हाइड्रोपावर का विकास. दोनों ही तरह के मामलों में परियोजना प्रबंधन की उदासीनता और स्थानीय जनता और पर्यावरण विशेषज्ञों द्वारा उठाये गए मुद्दों के प्रति लापरवाही साफ़ दिखाई दिखाई देती है.
हम बहुत लंबे समय से भूगर्भीय, पर्यावरणीय, जल प्रबंधन की दृष्टि से नाज़ुक इलाके किन्नौर में हाइड्रो पावर प्रोजेक्ट के प्रभावों के बारे में बता रहे हैं. सरकार ने हमेशा ही इन प्रभावों की अनदेखी करी है बल्कि हर प्रोजेक्ट के निर्माण के लिए बहाने बाज़ी का सहारा लिया है और इनके दुष्परिणामों को जनता से छिपाने की कोशिशें करी हैं. उदहारण के लिए किन्नौर में ढालदार जगहों पर भूस्खलन के असल कारण जानने के लिए बिना कोई स्वतंत्र अध्यन करवाए ही बरसात के कम ज़्यादा होने को, या बाढ़ को, या किसी अन्य प्रकृतिक घटना को ज़िम्मेदार बता दिया जाता है. परियोजना प्रबंधन मूर्खतापूर्ण नतीजे निकालने में यहाँ तक कह देते हैं कि इन इलाकों में तो इस तरह के भू-स्खलन होना एक सामान्य प्रकृतिक घटना है. अगर ऐसा ही है तब तो इस तरह की करछम वांग्तु जैसी विनाशकारी परियोजनाओं में निर्माण को और भी नियमों के तहत और कड़ी देखरेख में बनाया जाना चाहिये था . लेकिन इस तरह के किसी भी प्रश्न का जवाब किसी के पास नहीं है .
जहां तक सुरक्षा और देखरेख से जुड़े मुद्दों का सम्बन्ध है पिछले दो हफ़्तों में किन्नौर में हुई घटनाओं जैसी ही पिछले वर्षों में ऐसे अनेकों घटनाएँ हुई हैं. चमेरा III परियोजना में रिसाव की वजह से मोखर गाँव का आबादी का इलाका बह गया था .कुल्लू के अलियो–II परियोजना के जल भराव की जांच के समय मजदूरों की बस्ती बह गयी थी, हांलाकि इसमें किसी की मृत्यु नहीं हुई. इसी तरह का रिसाव करछम वांग्तु प्रोजेक्ट में सन 2011 में देखा गया था लेकिन यहाँ हम अभी भी दुर्घटना होने का इंतज़ार ही कर रहे हैं. हांलाकि जल विद्युत परियोजना नीति 2006 यह अनिवार्य कहा गया था कि सुरक्षा देखरेख अभिकरण का निर्माण करना अनिवार्य होगा, लेकिन अभी तक ऐसे किसी भी अभिकरण की स्थापना करी ही नहीं गयी है.
सन 2013 में Department of Power and MPP नें जलविद्युत परियोजनाओं के लिए सेफ्टी अथॉरिटी के गठन के लिए एक अधिसूचना जारी करी थी . सरकार को इस अभिकरण द्वारा पिछले दो सालों में किये गए कामों का खुलासा जनता के सामने करना चाहिये. जनता को जानने का ह्क़ है कि इस अभिकरण की बैठक कितने समय पर हुई हैं ? इस ने कौन सी परियोजनाओं की जांच करी है ? आज तक इसने किस दुर्घटना और लापरवाही के बारे में कोई कार्यवाही करी है. इसे जनता के प्रति जवाबदेह होना चाहिये जो कि इस तथाकथित विकास का नुकसान झेल रही है.

इस अभिकरण को इस बात पर ध्यान देना चाहिये कि सोरंग 100 मेगावाट परियोजना के पेनस्टॉक पाईप में रिसाव के बारे में गाँव वालों नें कंपनी को 8th मई 2015 को ही सूचना दे दी थी . इसका मतलब है कि इस परियोजना में पहले से ही कोई तकनीकी खामी थी . लेकिन इसके बावजूद भराव क्षमता की जांच की कार्यवाही क्यों करी गयी . इसके अलावा इसे इस बात की भी जांच करनी चाहिये कि जिस रात पेनस्टॉक क्षमता की जांच करी जा रही थी और दुर्घटना हुई थी लोगों को कोई चेतावनी या सूचना क्यों नहीं दी गयी ?
आज बुरंग गाँव लोगों के सिरों पर लटकते हुए मलबे के ढेर में बदल चुका है . हमें आश्चर्य है कि कंपनी ने रिहाइशी इलाके में निर्माण की हिम्मत ही कैसे करी ? चाहे वह साल के कुछ हिस्से के लिए तात्कालिक तौर पर ही करी गयी हो. आज कभी भी तेज बारिश या भूकंप के धक्के से बहुत से लोगों की जान जा सकती है. जिसे किसी भी कीमत पर बचाया जाना चाहिये. वह सभी परिवार जो कि बुरंग में रह रहे हैं उनकी जिंदगी की रक्षा करी जानी चाहिये ताकि कंपनी की लापरवाही की वजह से होने वाली किसी और दुर्घटना में उनकी जान ना जाए, और इन यह लोगों की जिंदगी की सुरक्षा प्रशासन की भी पूरी जिम्मेदारी है .
आज यह बात बिलकुल साफ़ हो गयी है कि भू स्खलन, बड़े पैमाने पर मिट्टी कटाव, गैरकानूनी मलबा डम्पिंग , जल स्रोतों का सूखना, जल भराव स्रोतों का कम हो जाना, जंगल कटान के कारण मिट्टी कटाव को रोकने में केन्द्रीय और राज्य के नियामक और देखरेख संस्थाएं पूरी तरह विफल सिद्ध हुई हैं. इसके स्थानीय वनस्पति, फल और सब्ज़ी उत्पादन और लोगों की रोज़मर्रा की जिंदगी पर पड़ने वाले खतरे के बारे में स्थानीय लोगों द्वारा बार बार आवाज़ उठाई जाती है लेकिन सरकार हमेशा ऐसे मामलों में अंधी बनी रहती है.
Issued by
Manshi Asher, Prakash Bhandari and Sumit Mahar
Himdhara Environment Research and Action Collective 8988275737 

Large Dames are disastrous for environment

THAYER SCUDDER, the world’s leading authority on the impact of dams on poor people, has changed his mind about dams.

A frequent consultant on large dam projects, Mr. Scudder held out hope through most of his 58-year career that the poverty relief delivered by a properly constructed and managed dam would outweigh the social and environmental damage it caused. Now, at age 84, he has concluded that large dams not only aren’t worth their cost, but that many currently under construction “will have disastrous environmental and socio-economic consequences,” as he wrote in a recent email.

Mr. Scudder, an emeritus anthropology professor at the California Institute of Technology, describes his disillusionment with dams as gradual. He was a dam proponent when he began his first research project in 1956, documenting the impact of forced resettlement on 57,000 Tonga people in the Gwembe Valley of present-day Zambia and Zimbabwe. Construction of the Kariba Dam, which relied on what was then the largest loan in the World Bank’s history, required the Tonga to move from their ancestral homes along the Zambezi River to infertile land downstream. Mr. Scudder has been tracking their disintegration ever since.

Once cohesive and self-sufficient, the Tonga are troubled by intermittent hunger, rampant alcoholism and astronomical unemployment. Desperate for income, some have resorted to illegal drug cultivation and smuggling, elephant poaching, pimping and prostitution. Villagers still lack electricity.

Mr. Scudder’s most recent stint as a consultant, on the Nam Theun 2 Dam in Laos, delivered his final disappointment. He and two fellow advisers supported the project because it required the dam’s funders to carry out programs that would leave people displaced by the dam in better shape than before the project started. But the dam was finished in 2010, and the programs’ goals remain unmet. Meanwhile, the dam’s three owners are considering turning over all responsibilities to the Laotian government — “too soon,” Mr. Scudder said in an interview. “The government wants to build 60 dams over the next 20 or 30 years, and at the moment it doesn’t have the capacity to deal with environmental and social impacts for any single one of them.

“Nam Theun 2 confirmed my longstanding suspicion that the task of building a large dam is just too complex and too damaging to priceless natural resources,” he said. He now thinks his most significant accomplishment was not improving a dam, but stopping one: He led a 1992 study that helped prevent construction of a dam that would have harmed Botswana’s Okavango Delta, one of the world’s last great wetlands.

Part of what moved Mr. Scudder to go public with his revised assessment was the corroboration he found in a stunning Oxford University study published in March in Energy Policy. The study, by Atif Ansar, Bent Flyvbjerg, Alexander Budzier and Daniel Lunn, draws upon cost statistics for 245 large dams built between 1934 and 2007. Without even taking into account social and environmental impacts, which are almost invariably negative and frequently vast, the study finds that “the actual construction costs of large dams are too high to yield a positive return.”

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The study’s authors — three management scholars and a statistician — say planners are systematically biased toward excessive optimism, which dam promoters exploit with deception or blatant corruption. The study finds that actual dam expenses on average were nearly double pre-building estimates, and several times greater than overruns of other kinds of infrastructure construction, including roads, railroads, bridges and tunnels. On average, dam construction took 8.6 years, 44 percent longer than predicted — so much time, the authors say, that large dams are “ineffective in resolving urgent energy crises.”

DAMS typically consume large chunks of developing countries’ financial resources, as dam planners underestimate the impact of inflation and currency depreciation. Many of the funds that support large dams arrive as loans to the host countries, and must eventually be paid off in hard currency. But most dam revenue comes from electricity sales in local currencies. When local currencies fall against the dollar, as often happens, the burden of those loans grows.

One reason this dynamic has been overlooked is that earlier studies evaluated dams’ economic performance by considering whether international lenders like the World Bank recovered their loans — and in most cases, they did. But the economic impact on host countries was often debilitating. Dam projects are so huge that beginning in the 1980s, dam overruns became major components of debt crises in Turkey, Brazil, Mexico and the former Yugoslavia. “For many countries, the national economy is so fragile that the debt from just one mega-dam can completely negatively affect the national economy,” Mr. Flyvbjerg, the study’s lead investigator, told me.

To underline its point, the study singles out the massive Diamer-Bhasha Dam, now under construction in Pakistan across the Indus River. It is projected to cost $12.7 billion (in 2008 dollars) and finish construction by 2021. But the study suggests that it won’t be completed until 2027, by which time it could cost $35 billion (again, in 2008 dollars) — a quarter of Pakistan’s gross domestic product that year.

Using the study’s criteria, most of the world’s planned mega-dams would be deemed cost-ineffective. That’s unquestionably true of the gargantuan Inga complex of eight dams intended to span the Congo River — its first two projects have produced huge cost overruns — and Brazil’s purported $14 billion Belo Monte Dam, which will replace a swath of Amazonian rain forest with the world’s third-largest hydroelectric dam.

Instead of building enormous, one-of-a-kind edifices like large dams, the study’s authors recommend “agile energy alternatives” like wind, solar and mini-hydropower facilities. “We’re stuck in a 1950s mode where everything was done in a very bespoke, manual way,” Mr. Ansar said over the phone. “We need things that are more easily standardized, things that fit inside a container and can be easily transported.”

All this runs directly contrary to the current international dam-building boom. Chinese, Brazilian and Indian construction companies are building hundreds of dams around the world, and the World Bank announced a year ago that it was reviving a moribund strategy to fund mega-dams. The biggest ones look so seductive, so dazzling, that it has taken us generations to notice: They’re brute-force, Industrial Age artifacts that rarely deliver what they promise.

By JACQUES LESLIEAUG. 22, 2014

Jacques Leslie is the author, most recently, of “Deep Water: The Epic Struggle Over Dams, Displaced People, and the Environment.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/24/opinion/sunday/large-dams-just-arent-worth-the-cost.html?emc=eta1&_r=3#story-header