Entire Himalayan Range Facing Ecological Crisis: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court stated on Monday that the whole Himalayan range, which was “very violent” this time, was dealing with the ecological and environmental circumstances issue, so it would not be restricted to Himachal Pradesh alone.

In the suo motu case involving issues pertaining to the ecology and environmental circumstances that exist in Himachal Pradesh, a bench consisting of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta stated that it would issue its ruling on September 23.

“Ultimately, it is not going to be limited to Himachal only. It is the entire Himalayan range that is facing this. This time around, it has been very very violent,” Justice Mehta observed.

During the hearing, Himachal Pradesh’s advocate general and additional advocate general informed the bench about a report filed by the state in the matter.

“We will give you a brief order after summarising everything so that you can get specific instructions,” the bench said. “The report covers a number of aspects. It might not be possible to deal with all the aspects at one go. They have covered from tree cover to mining aspect, glaciers etc.,” he said.

Parmeshwar pointed out that the study lacked specifics. He claimed that although the state had argued in the study that there were certain issues with glacier movement and shrinkage, such details were missing. A section of the study that stated Himachal Pradesh was actively working on the establishment of a state-level glacier register was cited by the state’s additional advocate general.

According to the paper, glacier inventories for several basins in Himachal Pradesh from 2001 to 2002 were compared with those from 2016 to 2019 as part of integrated studies of the Himalayan cryosphere.

According to the report, recent disasters such as intense rains, cloudbursts, flash floods, landslides, changes in snowfall patterns, and retreating glaciers were all signs of climate change, an unavoidable worldwide phenomenon brought on by widespread industrialization, increased greenhouse gas emissions, and unsustainable regional, national, and international practices.

According to the research, hydroelectric projects may not be the state’s main source of devastation, despite the court’s worry about the damage they create. “Recent flash floods and cloudbursts have occurred in areas far away from hydropower installations. These destructive events were mainly caused by cloudbursts happening at higher altitudes and mountain peaks where no hydropower projects exist,” it said.