10/08/2020 - Environment | Mainstorming

IAS Parliament 4 years

KEY POINTS

· Forecasts of ‘good’ or ‘normal’ monsoons are often beguiling and belie the ominous. This year, the annual floods that upend the Brahmaputra Valley have been followed by intense spells along the Konkan coast and Mumbai, and now Kerala, which until the end of last month recorded a slight deficit.

· The landslip in Idukki, that has so far claimed 43 lives and rendered several homeless, follows from a continuing spell of heavy rains in Kerala. Most districts have received three or four times more rain than what is normal.

· Last year too, neighbouring Wayanad saw multiple hamlets wiped out and the year before, the devastating floods in the State forced a debate on the need for new models of development. Landslips, or landslides, in the Western Ghats have a history.

· As part of a National Landslide Susceptibility Mapping (NLSM) programme, the agency mapped several States in the Western Ghats, North-eastern States, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand to assess how vulnerable their districts were.

· The objective of the NLSM maps is to help State and district authorities incorporate the risk of landslides into zoning laws. However, just as in the case of earthquake zonation maps, or for that matter, any exercise to scientifically ascertain the risk from natural hazards to a region, these laws are barely implemented in the right spirit.

· And this is not unique to Kerala. The details might vary but it is now beyond contestation that India is living in a new climate normal. Frequent high intensity bursts of rain will co-exist along with long dry spells.

· It has emerged from studies of Kerala’s topography that quarrying and the unscientific cutting of slopes into hills aggravates the risk of soil erosion.

· A lack of compliance with such principles is often a key reason why natural hazards end up causing a significant number of avoidable casualties. There is a cost to pursuing development goals without paying attention to environmental constraints.

Aradhana Tiwari 4 years

Today, when the country is facing natural hazards like- annual floods in Bihar, Assam, kerala ; landslides in Idukki(Kerala), Uttarakhand, which end up causing a significant number of avoidable casualties, the need for "new models of development", by adhering to environmental regulations has gained importance.

The debate between "development and environment" is of paramount relevance in a developing economy like ours, as environment degradation drastically offsets improvements achieved by economic prosperity, apart from having serious implications for distributive justice.

>>> Development goals and environmental regulations :

- Consumption and production : Responsible consumption and production- allowing us to do more with fewer resources. For this, we need to adopt a "circular economy approach" based on the principle of “REDUCE, REUSE and RECYCLE”.

- Smart cities : Transforming our settlement patterns will benefit the world population and the environment– such as through ‘smart’ infrastructure, decent housing and high connectivity.

- Digital revolution : Science, technology, and innovation need to support sustainable development by way of "Information Technology/digital revolution".

>>> Need of the hour- towards the betterment of the environment and achievements of developmental goals :

- It is imperative to frame environment policy with holistic considerations of health, sanitation and overall development of the populace.

- More awareness & sensitivity towards the environment and development is the key to environmental conservation and economic prosperity.

- Concurrently, it is also crucial for the govt and policy makers to ‘walk the talk’ by adopting water harvesting & waste management and using efficient energy sources, in addition to having laws that reinforce other initiatives.

- A positive encouragement for judicious use (concessional rates of solar equipment and efficient appliances) and negative incentives for misuse of resources (higher taxes for inefficient cars and high energy consuming buildings) should be provided.

>>> Conclusion :

Ecology and Economics are closely related in such a way that- inclusive development is not possible without adequate emphasis on environmental protection. Thus, Development and environment need to be seen as complementary, not antagonistic terms.