Green issues in J&K

• Even as Articles 370 and 35A generate considerable heat in Jammu & Kashmir, crucial issues of ecology and environment remain conspicuously ignored by all.

Geopolitical fallouts impacting environment

• Shrinking glaciers tops this list. Through summer these glaciers charge the Valley’s water bodies, like streams and canals used in irrigation and rivers that flow into Pakistan.
• The state also witnesses two of its major lakes — Dal and Wular — become smaller.

I. Shrinking waterbodies

• Dal, the mascot of Kashmir’s famed natural beauty and a major tourist puller, has shrunk around 36 per cent in almost four decades.
• According to a study by Srinagar’s Directorate of Environment, Ecology and Remote Sensing, it has shrunk to 1,620 hectares in 2008 from 2,547 hectares in 1971.
• Wular, which is the largest fresh water lake in Asia and was designated a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention in 1990, is worse than Dal.
• Since 1911, the overall water spread and marsh areas have shrunk by more than 50 per cent.
• The water-holding capacity of the lake that helps prevents floods and drought is fast diminishing.

II. Conversion of farmlands

• Over the past three decades, Kashmir has also witnessed a steady conversion of farmland into ones used for non-agricultural purposes.
• As a result, food grain deficit, which in 1950-51 was 32 per cent, has now shot up to 81.5 per cent.

III. Issue over Indus Water

• Recently, India threatened to stop J&K rivers from entering Pakistan after the Pulwama attack.
• According to the Indus Water Treaty (IWT), Pakistan gets water from three J&K rivers — Jhelum, Sindh and Chenab — and India gets the right to completely divert water from Punjab rivers — Satluj, Ravi and Beas.
• Shrinking glaciers threaten to reduce the discharge in J&K rivers, which will reduce the distribution of waters between neighbours.
• If there is less water available to meet J&K needs, even lesser will flow to Pakistan. This may impact the country’s agriculture and its economy.

IV. Issue over Hydropower

• Another related issue is hydro-power generation, again a politically touchy issue.
• Under IWT, the Valley can only generate electricity from run-of-the-river power projects.
• So, the depleting discharge in rivers will mean a progressive decline in generation capacity.
• But, as of now, J&K faces severe shortage of electricity, an irony for a state that exports power to the rest of the country.
• According to an estimate, around 84 per cent of the 3593 megawatt of energy generated in J&K goes to  the northern grid and the state buys a chunk of  it back  for a hefty cost.

Kashmir is  in Despair

• The state doesn’t even have an agency to address its water problems as IWT already takes care of the larger issue — the rivers.
• About receding of glaciers, the state can hardly do anything. One of the factors that may be accentuating the shrinkage, apart from climate change, is Amarnath Yatra.
• But regulating pilgrimage to protect the fragile environment is too politically sensitive an issue to be addressed.

Lack of awareness

• J&K faces mass unemployment, an underperforming economy (as the state imports 96 per cent of goods) and dwindling tourism.
• In popular perception, the accent in public discourse on development and environment issues is perceived as a motivated digression from the ongoing secessionist campaign.
• People see these development and environment related issues as secondary to the political issues of existential nature confronting the state.
• Issues like water, power and development are seen as a consequence of the political conflict in and over the state and are hence not considered addressable unless the conflict itself is resolved.

Way Forward

• J&K is important for environmental stability of the subcontinent.
• So the issues of the state’s disappearing water bodies, receding glaciers needs to be openly discussed on their merit unencumbered by the political and religious sensitivities and the interests.
• Neglecting green issues in public discourse and the consequent lack of effective administrative redressal can cost not only J&K but the entire region heavily.