Lessons from the Uttarakhand tragedy: Ecology is the economy of the Himalayas

Ecological disasters have become a regular phenomenon in the Himalayas, especially the state of Uttarakhand. The whole ecosystem in the region seems to be under great stress and is not working as efficiently as it used to work a few decades ago. This has led to unprecedented rains and flash floods in the region, especially in the last decade and a half.

Coming to the recent rain fury in Uttarakhand, it has many similarities with the 2013 Kedarnath tragedy that shook the whole nation. Massive life and property losses have been reported, especially in the Kumaon region. About 55 people lost their lives and there are many who are still missing. Most rural roads and state highways remain closed. The rain broke a 100-odd-year-old record.

There are many similarities between the 2013 flash floods that hit Kedarnath and the 2021 tragedy. One, both didn’t take place at the peak of the monsoon. The 2013 havoc happened in the month of June when the monsoon was yet to arrive. The current chaos took place when IMD announced the end of monsoon.

Having rain-related tragedies of this scale before and after the monsoon, raise several uncomfortable questions. We should seriously and critically analyse what happened on both occasions. Such matters, unfortunately, have been ignored in the past but now need serious attention. It also becomes important when such disasters are repeated within such a short span of time.

Also read: Uttarakhand floods: Easy to point finger at climate change, but humanity is equally to blame

One can find the reasons for the rise of such environmental tragedies in an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. The report released recently highlighted the fact that the frequency of such flash floods and storms would increase manifold in the next 20 years. This is not the story of the Indian subcontinent alone; other countries too are facing such disasters.

Human beings since ages have articulated their activities for different seasons of the year. Changing patterns of climate totally disrupts such activities right from farming to other human-related issues. Changing climate hampers such activities and ultimately causes various economic and ecological disturbances. Moreover, unpreparedness causes more damage.

With climate change, winter rain is likely to become weaker. It’s the rainfall in the winter season that helps create glaciers. Now assume that rain does not fall in November-December but at the end of winter. Snow at that time of the year remains soft and loose, and with any intense rainfall will slide downwards in the form of avalanches. Reni village had to face the ire of a similar avalanche in 2020.

We will have to be very cautious in planning a future strategy, especially for the mountainous region of the Himalayas. There are two things that need to be debated: How much have we learnt from the Kedarnath tragedy? And was it of any use to us? Unfortunately, we are not serious on such issues. After a few days of hues and cries, things cool down and we return to our ‘normal’ routines. This happened after the Kedarnath tragedy, and one suspect we would do the same thing this time as well.

The Uttarakhand tragedy is the result of two phenomena mixing together: Global factors that cause climate change, leading to frequent flash floods; and local factors, such as unplanned and haphazard development activities, making these floods and landslides deadlier than ever before. These two factors are expected to unleash more such tragedies in the Himalayas in the near future.

Himalayan states are extremely vulnerable to global warming and climate change. It is difficult to stop the overall phenomenon of global warming, but one can definitely make amends in the manner in which we have been making changes in the region in the name of development.

It’s no one’s argument that development should not happen in the region. That roads and highways should not be built. One just needs to take the ecological concerns into consideration while doing those works. The plan of development must be different here than in other parts of the country. Here ecology is above economy. In fact, truly speaking, ecology is the economy of the Himalayas.

It must be understood that a natural disaster cannot be stopped in the current scenario as climate change and global warming will continue to happen, thanks to our insatiable lust for ‘development’. But the scale of disaster can be mitigated at the local level. Development must be within local ecological limitations and conditions. The Himalayan policy has to be different from that of the plains. Here everything cannot be done on the lines of what’s done in other parts of the country. The vulnerability of the Himalayas is well known but unfortunately has not been given the importance it deserves. Stable Himalaya denotes ecological and economic stability elsewhere too.

Besides, there has not been any accountability fixed towards the ecosystem growth and its behaviour on a regular basis. This is true for the country as a whole. We don’t have any ecosystem resource status report. The same is the case with the economy. We do not know the current amount of resources in the country, especially water, soil, air and forest. These have been arbitrarily discussed, but never presented collectively. For example, we have been seriously worried about the economic growth of the country, but do not know exactly where we stand ecologically.

No economy can be stable without a self-sustaining ecosystem and therefore, for any given country, a strong ecosystem is as important as the economy, if not more. This one lesson the government and the people must learn.

The writer is an environmentalist, green activist, and the founder of Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation. The views expressed are personal.