News

Cleaning up water and forests in India

06.04.2016

Massive floods and landslides in June 2013 in the state of Uttarakhand were some of India’s worst natural disasters. The “Himalayan Tragedy” highlighted the extreme consequences of climate change, raising an alarm for addressing the adverse impact of climate change especially in the fragile mountain regions.

The district of Uttarkash, situated in the Himalayan foothills, was one of the worst affected districts during the flash floods and since then, the Centre for Environment Education (CEE Himalaya) with the support from JSW Foundation has been promoting sustainable mountain development through education and awareness campaigns, as well as working on disaster risk reduction and climate change mitigation and adaptation interventions in the Uttarkashi district, the state of Uttarkhand, under its “Rebuilding Faith” Programme.

The Uttarkashi district (latitude 30° 43' N and longitude is 78° 27' E) is situated at an altitude of 1 165 m in the Gharwal divison of the Uttarakhand state in the Central Himalayan Region. Over the past years, the district has become a major tourist attraction. The two most important rivers, Ganges and Yamuna, flow through the district, which has also become a major stopover for pilgrims visiting Gangotri and Yamontri. In Hindu mythology, Ganga has been given the status of a sacred river, but the explosion of tourism in the district has caused acute pollution in the two rivers. The water quality of the holy rivers is degrading due to increased human activity alongside the river banks and due to other major pilgrims’ spots, as people take a holy dip and perform rituals, then dispose of plastic bags, ashes, offerings, food, clothes and other waste on the river banks. Open defecation and drainage of sewage from septic tanks, toilets and hotels into the rivers have become a common phenomenon. In addition, the forest areas situated downstream are used as dumping sites.

Communities are traditionally dependent on the rivers for water supply but the increased pathogenic contamination of the river water has made it inaccessible to residents. Some naula streams (traditional water underground springs) also exist but the water quality and quantity are getting affected by glacial shrinkages and erratic rainfall, making the situation even worse.

To combat the increasing pollution in the river Ganga, the Government of India has initiated Integrated Ganga
Conservation Mission called “Namami Gange Yojana” to clean and protect the Ganga River in a comprehensive manner. The “Namami Gange” programme forms an integral component of the CEE-JSW programme “Rebuilding Faith”.

Thus, to raise the community’s awareness among of the importance of natural resources, such as forests and water, to establish linkages among natural resource management approaches and to address the urgency of their conservation, CEE Himalaya, with the support of JSW Foundation and in association with the Mountain Partnership and RCE Srinagar of the United Nations University of Advances Studies, organized an array of activities on the occasions of the International Day of Forests, 21 March 2016, and World Water Day 2016, 22 March 2016, in Kuroli village, Uttarkashi district.

Discussions and open dialogues with the communities improved the understanding of changes in traditional lifestyle due to the aggravating impacts of climate change on land, water and forests. They said that forests in their regions are depleting due to excessive deforestation for fuel and fodder collection and increase in forest fires during summers. To curb this, participants stated that each family in Kuroli community has adopted some patch of their traditional forests and nobody is allowed to cut even a single branch from any tree. The increasing incidences of water borne diseases due to pollution and poor maintenance of water collection points and water conservation and management were also put forth by the CEE team through water quality testing at major water collection points in the village.

Women contended that they are the ones who have to bear the brunt of climate change and depleting natural resources, as they have to climb uphill for water, fuel and fodder, then carry the hefty loads downhill, consuming most of their day. They also said that this has caused excessive back and spinal problems to the women and some have even died while climbing the hills with heavy loads.

During the event, Yuva Mangal Dal (Youth group) along with the CEE Team initiated a ‘Clean Drive’ in the village, wherein the entire youth was involved in cleaning the major collection point, small streams and drainage.
Another major reason asserted by the community for degrading water sources and forest quality is the increasing number of trees providing raw material to industries and fetching revenue, e.g. pine. Consequently the CEE Team, along with the women of Kuroli village, planted saplings of native species, such as Baans (Bamboo), Deodar (Cedrus deodara) and Oak during the event. The gathering culminated with a pledge to increase efforts to preserve forests and fast depleting water sources as well as maintain the existing sources of water.

The CEE Himalaya Team consisting of Dr Chandan Kumar, Jagroshan Singh Panwar and Kushpal Singh conducted the events.

News by Himani Joshi and Abdhesh Kumar Gangwar of CEE Himalaya & CEE-North East.

Photo: Flickr/Barry Silver