Ever since the establishment of the new Government in India, I've been skeptical about the new minister for the newly rechristened Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC). The long and changed named does not instill faith in environmentalists/listas like me that the Minister or the Ministry is going to do much conservation. Instead, in the first interview itself, Mr. Javadekar said that, "Environmental destruction is mainly caused to due poverty."
Well you see, first impressions are so very important! And this statement has itself given a really bad impression regarding the aims and objectives of our dear Minister.
During my University years, 2 of the papers that I studied in Geography were, 'Developmental Geography', and, 'Geography of Environmental Systems'. The first of two papers, was, as many thought, not at all useful in later life! Now that I think back, I'm glad I studied these 2 papers together...that too under 2 very dynamic and influential professors.
Developmental Geography taught me that variables of development differ from man to man, place to place and country to country. They also differ from situation to situation! How one person defines development, may be another person's description of destruction.
Take a simple example of 'development' in the Himalayan region. Huge dams are being constructed in the Himalayan region in order to general hydro-electricity. They reduce the amount of water that flows in the rivers. The dams get silted up annually. In turn reservoirs store less water every year. In addition to that, fishes die as their natural routes are blocked up due to dams. This disturbs not only the ecology of the already fragile Himalayan rivers, but also makes this earthquake prone area more prone to earthquakes. This is because huge reservoirs exert a huge amount of pressure on land. Come monsoon, and the floodgates are opened. Downstream the river, towns and cities and villages that are built on the floodplains of the rivers experience huge losses due to floods.
Something similar happened in Kedarnath last year. The prilgrim center had been 'developed' by the state by providing facilities like roads, hotels, restaurants etc. Only this development took place, not taking into consideration the fragile nature of the Himalayan river valleys. Trees were felled to build roads in precarious valley sides and to construct houses on river banks. Small shops came up on the flood plains leading to the Kedarnath temple. Nobody realised that all this so called 'development' was taking place in the 'floodplain of a river valley'. One fine day there was a cloud burst. What happened next was quite obvious. Soil and rocks from the valley sides had become loose as there were no trees to hold them. They came rolling down with the water. Hotels and restaurants built on valley sides could not withstand the combined pressure of water and the debris flowing with it. So they got swept away in the current. The shops built in the floodplains stood no chance at all in front of the huge gushing waters.
End result? All of the 'so - called development' got washed out in 2 days. Not to forget the immense loss of life. Only reason? We wanted to 'develop' a region that was environmentally fragile!
What should have been done - leave the region undisturbed! Restrict and monitor the number of people coming to Kedarnath. Make sure no hotel or house is built on the valley sides! Plant trees to arrest soil erosion!
Many a times, 'development' has a different meaning. Two different physiographical regions need to be treated with different parameters. You cannot 'develop' a city or a town in the Himalayas in the same way that you 'develop' a city or a town on the plains.
Similarly, you cannot give fast-tract environmental clearances to projects without understanding the impacts that the environmental factors will have on their future!
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