Protect the delta
Monday, April 21, 2014
From Print Edition
The News

The development mantra we have so fervently followed for decades is now beginning to reveal the damage it has done to our environment. For our energy needs, we have pursued one large dam after the other and the effects have been predictable. The reduced river flows, caused by the construction of dams on the Indus River, have caused the Indus Delta to lose nearly 1000 square kilometres since the 1960s – about one-sixth of its total mass. Add to that the ravages of climate change and the massive cutting of mangrove forests and we have an ecological disaster on our hands. The riverine forests of Sindh are rapidly dying, not just because of logging by unscrupulous developers who refuse to follow the law, but also due to the decrease in freshwater available from the Indus Delta. Much of the water that would have flowed to the Delta is now diverted by the Mangla, Tarbela and Warsak damn, with other smaller damns adding to the problem. On top of that, India’s decision to go ahead with the Kishanganga and Baglihar hydro power projects on the Jhelum and Chenab rivers has further reduced the downstream flow of the Indus.

It would be easy to call for laws to be formulated to protect the Indus Delta. The fact is that such laws already exist; the problem is that the government has no interest in enforcing them. The Indus Delta was declared an internationally protected site in 1971. We signed an international treaty which called on the government, with help from the world community, to conserve the wetlands and use its resources judiciously. Needless to say, this has not happened. The short-term gains of development projects always outweigh the preservation of our heritage. All such projects require environmental assessments before they can be approved but the government, in conjunction with international lending institutions, either skip them altogether or hurriedly prepare a report so they can start work immediately. Add to that the lack of regulation of industries, who routinely allow the runoff of chemicals into the river and we have an environmental catastrophe on our hands. As important as electricity generation may be, the rapid rate at which we are losing forest cover and endangering species that play a vital role in our ecology should be the primary cause for concern. For over 50 years now we have not paid heed to the damage we are doing to our surroundings. It is long past time to wake up to the disaster on our hands.