Events & Issues
New Delhi, 24
February 2021
Glacial
Burst
NO TALK,
ACT ON GLOBAL WARMING
By
Dhurjati Mukherjee
Global
warming needs a lot more attention in the country following the recent glacial
burst in Uttarakhand and . While experts have come out with suggestions from
time to time, there is a wide gap in acceptance of the recommendations.
Controlling nature becomes all the more difficult, resulting in various types
of disasters. According to available data, extreme weather events can impact 75
per cent of India’s districts with a spike in such events since 2005.
Unfortunately,
a natural disaster and its consequences get sharp focus when a tragedy takes
place, but weeks later the concern, rather the long term impact gets relegated
to the background. The glacial burst in
Uttarakhand raises questions about the construction of hydropower projects,
which require environmental reassessment in the fragile mountains. Though the
deluge was less deadly than the Kedarnath one, the next one could be much more
as reports indicate there are more than 500 glacier lakes at risk of an
outburst.
Scientists
agree that retreating glaciers, like several in the Himalayas, usually result
in the formation of lakes at their tips, called pro glacial lakes, often bound
only by sediments and boulders. If the boundaries of these lakes are breached,
it can lead to large amounts of water rushing down to nearby streams and
rivers, gathering momentum on the way by picking up sediments, rocks and other
material, and resulting in flooding downstream. And this is what possibly
happened in Uttarakhand, for instance, an avalanche was reported in the region
two days before the breach happened.
It
is in this connection one may refer to the observation of Prime Minister Modi for
the need to for enhancing disaster management capabilities through human
resources development and technology but unfortunately not much has been done
in most areas. “The road to fighting climate change is through climate
justice”, he stated. However, as Modi rightly pointed out that environment and
natural disasters impact the poor the most, while recently inaugurating the
World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) of The Energy & Resources
Institute.
As
is well known, floods are the country’s worst form of disaster with three
extreme flood events occurring annually on average but after 2005, the yearly
average rose to 11. However, the recent glacial burst in Chamoli district in
Uttarakhand speaks a lot about hydro electric plants being constructed against
the wishes of nature.
The
impact of climate change has resulted in Himalayan glaciers retreating faster
than anywhere else in the world. “Yet, the state of glacier response (how much
it retreats or advances) has not been studied extensively. Thus, we mapped the
variations of extent and dynamics of the glaciers in the upper Rishigangt
catchment, Nanda Devi region and found most glaciers have been shrinking”,
according to Dr. Manish Mehta, senior scientist of Wadia Institute of Himalayan
Geology (WIHG). He had further stated that south facing glaciers receded faster
than north facing ones, possibly due to exposure to insulation (solar
radiation).
The
impact of global warming is documented by the International Centre for
Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), which showed that temperatures were
rising in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan region and this, along with global
temperature increases, will have more impact. Unfortunately, concerned
authorities have not paid any heed to scientific advice while setting up power
projects on rivers that originate from glaciers like the one on the Rishi Ganga.
How new power projects are approved is something scientists of WIHG are clearly
wary of.
It
goes without saying that there is a general feeling that opinions of geologists
and scientists are ignored until a disaster happens. So are the apprehensions
of locals. In the summer of 2019, villagers in the Rishigana Valley, where the
recent floods emerged, had approached the high court, complaining that blasting
taking place as part of the Rishiganga hydro project were scarring wild animals
in the forests who had started entering villages.
The
need now is to look for alternative plans of sustainable development. Micro
hydel projects of 1MW or 2MW capacity can generate power without the need to
stop the river flow. Experts believe that gherats or water mills have
been in use in the State for centuries for grinding grains and spices using
water power. There are thousands of them lying unused and these can be
converted into micro generating units.
The
anthropogenic climate change that is being experienced in recent years is
unprecedented in the hilly terrain, resulting in floods and cyclones. Apart
from continuous monitoring of glaciers – India has 26 – in averting disasters,
there is need to evolve an effective, plan for tackling disasters. Another
problem of such disasters is migration, which is totally climate change driven.
There are examples in history of how climate related disasters – droughts and
floods – intensified mobility and, in recent years, such migration has severely
affected poor people as also their livelihoods.
“Restricting
constructions and development in GLOF (Glacial Lake Outburst Flood) prone areas
is a very efficient means to reduce risks at no cost,” the NDMA guidelines
clearly point out. These say construction of any habitation should be
prohibited in the high hazard zone. “Existing buildings are to be relocated to
a safer nearby region and all the resources for the relocation have to be
managed by Central/State governments. New infrastructures in the medium hazard
zone have to be accompanied by specific protection measures.”
The
guidelines emphasise the importance of land use planning: “There are no widely
accepted procedures or regulation in India for land use planning in the GLOF
prone areas. Such regulations obviously need to be adhered to. Further
technical experts rightly pointed out that more than two-thirds of the lakes in
Uttarakhand are of moraine dams. These dams are relatively weak and can easily
burst and create deadly floods. Glacial lake outburst floods occurring due to
the failure of moraine dams are significant hazards for the valley downstream
as “they possess a large amount of hydraulic energy that can kill thousands and
destroy infrastructures and riverine landscape”, climate scientists observed.
Global
warming of the ice caps of mountains is an accepted fact, according to
hydrologists and scientists the world over. And in Uttarakhand, a large number
of population is vulnerable to glacial flood hazards as the State has the
highest population density – around 182 per km among Indian Himalayan states.
In such a scenario, there is need to evolve a strategy, after taking into
consideration the views of technical experts, and, if necessary form another
committee, while immediately stopping construction of big hydro projects.---INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature
Alliance)
|