IT IS THE DISESE NOT SYMPOMS THAT NEEDS TO BE CURED.

This years WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY slogan is   Think.Eat.Save. It is said to be an anti-food waste and food loss campaign. Because  every year 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted. At the same time, 1 in every 7 people in the world go to bed hungry and more than 20,000 children under the age of 5 die daily from hunger.  At the same time, the planet is struggling to provide us with enough resources to sustain its 7 billion people (growing to 9 billion by 2050). Food waste is an enormous drain on natural resources and a contributor to negative environmental impacts.The global food production occupies 25% of all habitable land and is responsible for 70% of fresh water consumption, 80% of deforestation, and 30% of greenhouse gas emissions. It is the largest single driver of biodiversity loss and land-use change.(Source: http://www.unep.org/wed/theme/)    While blaming agriculture for many environmental ills the FAO does not take into account the nature of food production. Food produced for marketwould have different impact that food produced for self consumption. All those ills and inefficiencies enumerated by FAO are the ills generated by corporate houses in the food processing and agricultural sector.

 Do these corporate houses permit common people food choices? In the present day market oriented system where one in every seven persons is sleeping hungry at night. Where on the one hand food grains decay in godown and on the other people die of starvation where is the choice of eating organic or gm foods?  If the gm foods are harmful for health and environment than why force the farmers to grow them? Actually before coming to consumption of food we have to focus on growing of food. To grow food land and water is required. We know like the 19^th century gold- rush today the whole world is witnessing land rush.  Corporate houses are leaving no stones unturned to get land for cash crop farming ,or for mining, real estate business or for other commercial purposes.  As far as water is concerned the less said the better. Most of the rivers are either drying or are polluted. The underground water table is rapidly going down and whatever is left is polluted. Rivers are being sold to private parties. With the unprecedented developments in the field of technology, which, in turn is expanding the size and reach of the corporate giants to all nooks and corners of the globe.  The energy needs of these giants have become unfathomable and  they are now tapping the unexplored sources of water. One of such untapped sources is the water of Himalayan rivers. The first step was to reassess the Himalayan potential for hydro-power. It  has been ‘reassessed’ at 500,000 MWe [Megawatt of installed electricity generation capacity. The reassessed country-wise potential is: Pakistan: 41,722 MW, India 108,143 MW;  Nepal 83,000 MW; and Bhutan 16,000 MW. Tibet 250,000 MWe.  Because Tibet is part of China the latter wants to hurriedly tap this energy to quench the un-quenchable energy thirst of its mega industrial houses . India is also no exception. She has also made elaborate plans to harness hydraulic energy potential of the Himalayan Rivers. In the process these governments have not cared to comprehend the irreparable damage would be caused to the Himalayan ecology including Tibet. (Source http://chimalaya.org/2013/05/20/the-himalayas-once-moaning-now-groaning/)

All the Himalayan rivers originate from glaciers. Arun Srivastava writes that the Himalayan glaciers serve as world’s second largest heat sink after the Antarctic and moderate global climate. The 18,065 glaciers spread over nearly 35,000 square kilometers hold about 3,735 cubic kilometers of ice mass making it world’s second largest glacier resource. He quotes Yao Tandong, Liu Shiyan, Pu Jianchen, Shen Yongping and Lu Anxin study published in, Science in China, 2004 and writes that 95% of the statistical glaciers were receding and that water resources in the Himalayas declining. (Ibid) While the dams on Indian side of Himalaya affect the Indian people, damming rivers in Tibet adversely affects the people of south Asia and of South East Asia including Vietnam. Arun Srivastava, says, “ power projects are stealing water, life line for 30 million mountain folks and 3 billion in the Himalayan-water-dependent nations, as far as Vietnam.”( Ibid)

            China's has been taking unilateral decision to construct dams and river diversion projects in Tibet. Since 1989, China has been planning to develop south-north water diversion projects partly driven by internal economic compulsions and partly by the desire to acquire a dominant external position. Dams in Tibet are matter of concern for all the Tibetans residing in Tibet, or outside Tibet. Because the rivers and the lakes China plans to use for energy generation are sacred for them. Secondly, Tibetan land is delicate and it cannot absorb the damming, river water diversion projects, mining and transportation, industrial and other such activities, which would lead to receding of glaciers in Tibet and in the Himalayas. Unfortunately, some of these activities might invite an eco-disaster resulting in the meltdown of Himalayan glaciers, further resulting in the drying of rivers.

            The Tibetan plateau is the world’s largest water reservoir. Asia’s 10 major river systems including the Indus, Sutlej, Brahmaputra, Irrawaddy, Salween and Mekong originate here. Of the world’s 6.92 billion people, it is the lifeline for nearly two billion (29%) in South Asia — from Afghanistan to the Ganga-Meghna-Brahmaputra basin and in Southeast Asia. The lower riparian states have failed to restrain China from unilateral decisions about harvestingTibetan water resources. It is pertinent to note that  China has already built a barrage on the Sutlej. It started construction work to divert the Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) in Tibet in November 2010. Chinese policy of using Tibetan water resources to generate electricity would  affect Nepal too because some of Nepal’s major rivers originate in Tibet before finally merging into the Ganga. Of them, the most important is Karnali (507 km), Nepal’s longest river. Parts of Nepal’s other major tributary systems also originate in Tibet. Similarly, the major tributaries of the Kosi, like the Sun Koshi/Bhote Koshi, the Tama Koshi and Arun originate in Tibet.  Any diversion of waters from Nepalese rivers originating in Tibet would directly affect the Ganga’s flow. Vasudeva  feels that by controlling Tibetan natural resourcesTibet China could dominate the Himalayan piedmont and by doing so it could even threaten the Indian subcontinent and thereby further threaten all of Southeast Asia and by extension all of Asia.  He writes that  because of this reason China has not signed any bilateral treaty in regard to the utilisation of water resources with any of its neighbours and has also not signed the 1997 UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Waterways. ( Source: PK Vasudeva ,Tibetan waters crucial for India's future, Nov 15, 2011, 10:15 IST | Agency: DNA http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/1612620/comment-tibetan-waters-crucial-for-indias-future)

In May 1997, when the United Nations General Assembly adopted a Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, China was one of three countries that voted against it, with Turkey and Burundi. India abstained from the vote.

 The rather mild Convention 'aimed at guiding States in negotiating agreements on specific watercourses.'

(Source:http://www.rediff.com/news/special/chinas-dams-on-brahmaputra-can-be-dangerous-business/20130207.htm

The people and governments all the states of Indian sub- continent, environmentalists, social activists are quite alarmed to learn about Chinese water harvesting projects. There is a strong  anti-dam lobby both in China and India.  Any proposal for fresh dam in any of Chinese rivers receives world wide publicity. Immediately these groups come out with data and various kind of information to show the ill- effects of mega dams on environment , biodiversity, and on the local inhabitants. For example, 263 international NGOs opposed China’s proposals to construct dams on the Mekong River. They criticized  China for using the water resources in Tibet as a political tool and demanded a moratorium on the lower Mekong dams for at least 10 years.( Source: PK Vasudeva ,Tibetan waters crucial for India's future

Tuesday, Nov 15, 2011, 10:15 IST | Agency: DNA

 http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/1612620/comment-tibetan-waters-crucial-for-indias-future)

China's construction of dams also raises the prospect of a race with India to develop hydropower along south Asia's most important river. For example, Jairam Ramesh, the then Indian environment minister, told the Guardian that in order to strengthen our negotiating position with China India needed to be more aggressive in pushing ahead hydro projects on the Brahmaputra [Source: Jonathan Wattsm The Guardian, May 24, 2010qouted by Jeffrey Hays  in Facts and Details, 2008, http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=2276&catid=13) To establish its “lower riparian right” and to create a strong bargaining position to detract China from building mega hydrological projects on the upper reaches of the river  Indian Government has been desperately trying to push the Arunachal Pradesh Government to expedite the development of storage hydroelectric projects on the Brahmaputra.  It was reported in the press that efforts were on to get the State to allot at least one storage hydroelectric project in each of the sub-basins of Siang, Lohit and Subhansiri rivers. The NTPC Ltd has been asked to prepare a feasibility study for a proposed 9,750-MW Siang Upper hydroelectric project. The main hurdle is the Arunachal Pradesh Government’s stand as far as possible to avoid storage projects involving big dams. However, the Ministry of Power has been trying hard to convince the Arunachal Government on the need for storage projects. Strategic analysts also want India to go ahead with hydroelectric project constructions in Brahmaputra's major tributaries to counter China's similar move. They said that the hydroelectric dams on Brahmaputra tributaries should be looked as strategic projects. One of them Brahma Chellaney, says that, “If India harnesses the Brahmaputra in Arunachal through the proposed projects, it will strengthen its case against China's building of a mega-dam at Metog. But, it will have to do it before China does its project. Under the doctrine of prior appropriation, a priority right falls on the first user of river waters,”. (Soure: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/chinas-plan-for-mega-dam-forces-govt-to-fast-track-hydel-projects-on-brahmaputra/article2406778.ece)

While the governments and the experts are thinking about the big issues the local people are worried about the minor problems of existence.(Are’nt the so called big issues dependent on the minor question of safety and security of existence.) Without ensuring the safety and security of existence of the Himalaya, the Himalayan rivers, the biodiversity found there, and the people residing there any talk about protecting India’s strategic interest could be mere academic exercise. Can we really ensure India’s safety and security by competing with China in constructing mega dams? Or are we merely playing in the hands of big dam lobby as China is doing?

Contrary to the approach adopted by the government the people of Arunachal Pradesh are apprehensive about the dam-building spree on both sides of the LAC. Actually over 100 large and small hydroelectric projects were being planned in almost all the tributaries of Brahmaputra in Arunachal Pradesh. Of these 100,  13 are planned in Tawang. Tawang  is the birthplace of VIth Dalai Lama. People of Tawang, who predominantly belong to Monpa tribe, have opposed the hydroelectric project as they claimed many of the projects were located in Buddhist sacred sites. Incidentally, Tibetans have similar complaint against the Chinese government in Tibet. (Source: Race for dams may trigger water disputes between India, China - Times Of India

http://defenceforumindia.com/forum/china/42765-race-dams-may-trigger-water-disputes-between-india-china.html)

On 10 September, 2010, 51 NGOs from north east India sent a Memorandum to the Indian and the Chinese Prime Ministers demanding to ‘let  the Yarlung Sangpo/Siang River Run Free.’This was possible only by stopping dams on Yarlung Sangpo/Siang.

The Memorandum read:

 Several communities in this stretch of river identify it by several names and attaches spiritual, cultural and economic importance to Nature, and they are first users and in fact the defender and protector of the river and its ecosystem. We fear that this being not only one of the finest rivers but also the finest ecosystems on earth, the communities surviving on this ecosystem will be destroyed by the politics of water and energy and the game of one-upmanship of these great nations.

To the Government of India

For a mere 8 – 10 % growth we cannot allow thousands of people to be displaced from their ancestral villages, nor can we allow millions of trees, of medicinal plants, of numerous other fauna and flora to be submerged or perish due to lack of water. We cannot allow thousands of fisherfolks and farmers to suffer for lack of water or live in constant fear of a dam break. We cannot facilitate the destruction of our bio-diversity for the sake of India’s GDP.

India is not only making efforts to building dams in Siang river but is preparing to built more than 100 mega dams in other rivers of the Northeast. Apart from the numerous problems associated with Dams, building dams on the Siang has serious implications. We have witnessed painful conflict between India and China in the sixties and we do not want to see the conflict continue or escalate as ultimately it is the people suffer (like those who live in Arunachal, in particular). We see that there is already an additional conflict brewing due to the dams proposed both by China and India. For this reason both the country must refrain from building any dams in the whole stretch of this river. This will help build peace and trust between the two countries. Building dams on Siang or in Yarlung Sangpo will therefore be considered as seeking conflict.

To the Government of China:

Any blocking of the river either by way of building any kind of dams or by simply diverting it will have irreparable and devastating impact on the ecosystems and the peoples way of life in Tibet, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam and also in the lower reaches of Bangladesh.We also fear that India’s efforts to build many dams (including the ones in Lohit and Subansiri rivers) is a way to pre-empt any Chinese dam upstream using the highly illogical view of stopping dams in upstream by building dams in the lower portion of the river. Nor can China build dams because of the unfounded logic that the country downstream is not using its water. Both the logic is problematic for the very fact that this river, its water and its ecosystem are already being used by the people settled along these rivers for generations.

Proposals:

 1. Stop all existing and proposed dam construction activities on Siang River both in China and India.

 2. Collectively agree to hold these river(s) as Heritage Rivers for all future generations to come.

(Source: http://nealliance.net/nepa/memorandum-to-india-and-china-against-dams-on-yarlung-tsangpo/)

The people are concerned because they have suffered flash floods caused by dam break in Tibet. On Jul 10, 2000, a Chinese official confirmed that  dam breach in Tibet caused floods that wreaked havoc in northeastern India, claiming 30 lives and leaving more than 100 missing.  Indian officials also admitted that they had seen images from a satellite that showed flash floods hit the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh two weeks ago after a Chinese dam on the Tsangpo river was breached. The Arunachal Pradesh government urged the Indian Prime Minister and home minister to take up the matter with their Chinese counterparts.  State Minister of Information and Public Relations Takam Sanjay told AFP that "Floods of this magnitude were never ever recorded in our history," and there could be artificial reasons for the river Siang to flood the hills. More than 50,000 people in five districts of Arunachal Pradesh were left homeless by the floods, and  several parts of the state were remained cut off from the rest of the country for a considerable period of time. The death toll was estimated to be 30.The estimated loss of property was more than one billion rupees (22.9 million dollars).

An official of China's Water Resources Department of the Tibet Autonomous Region government in Lhasa told AFP the 60 meters high and 2.5 kilometers wide dam was actually not an artificial dam, but a natural one, formed by a major landslide that occurred on April 9, 2000.  he added  "That landslide, the biggest ever seen in Asia and the third biggest in the world, created a dam in a matter of eight minutes."  He said the Tibet government spent over 60 million yuan (7.2 million dollars) to canalize the river, but couldn't prevent the dam from collapsing recently. The official however, declined to be identified.  (Source:Chinese Official Confirms a China Dam Break Caused India Floods . Reuters, July 10, 2000, Also Indian Express , JULY 11, 2000.)

Unfortunately, both the Chinese and the Indian governments are least sensitive to people’s concerns. Ignoring all the protests and appeals, the Chinese government on Feb 5, 2013,  informed her plan to build three new dams on the Brahmaputra river. China claimed that the new dams on the Yarlung Tsangpo would not have any impact on the flow of water to downstream areas in India.  Because the run-of-the-river hydropower projects on the river would not come in the way of the flood control and disaster reduction efforts in the lower reaches and would not disturb the ecological balance.

China has since 2010 been building a 510 MW hydropower project on the Yarlung Tsangpo at Zangmu in the Tibet Autonomous Region. The proposed new projects at Dagu and Jiacha will have installed generation capacity of 640 MW and 320 MW respectively. The proposed capacity of the project at Jiexu has not yet been made public. (Source: China apprises India of dam plans on Brahmaputra

 http://www.deccanherald.com/content/310177/china-apprises-india-dam-plans.html)

However, the peoples protests continue. On 22 March 2013,

Ms Dhardon Sharling, Co Chair, on behalf of The International Tibet Network Secretariat, Tibetan Women’s Association and Tibet Justice Centre

Wrote to the Environment Ministers of the Governments of India, Pakistan, Cambodia, Laos, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam.

 cc Mrs Irina Bokuva, Director General, UNESCO

IN this letter concerns were expressed about the impact of China’s policies – especially its dam-building programme – on Asia’s regional water security, and to urge your government to join forces with other downstream nations to pressure China to enter into appropriate water-sharing agreements.These Ministers were urged to join hands and bring China to the negotiating table to sign appropriate regional and international water-sharing agreements.(Source: WTN-L World Tibet Network News)

Anupam Nath , Activists hold placards against the construction of big dams as they protest… (/AP )

Plans by China to build three dams in Tibet have rung alarm bells in next-door India, where fears are rising that the northern nation’s thirst for power and water will one day affect the flow of the mighty Brahmaputra River, a lifeline for tens of millions of people. How  these dams deprive the people of their basic needs of life is explained by Brahma Chellaney. He says that Chinese dams on the Brahmaputra pose a serious long-term threat to the livelihoods of farmers, not only in India but even more so farther downstream in Bangladesh. He elaborates by saying that Chinese dam-building follows a well-established pattern that starts with small dams on a river’s upper reaches and eventually moves to mega-dams downstream. There are 12 small dams on the Brahmaputra’s upper reaches and tributaries and one medium-size dam under construction on the river. He  predicts that the next step would be larger dams in spots where the river picks up huge amounts of water and momentum nearer the Indian border.Those dams could not only affect water flows but also remove nutrient-rich silt that helps nourish agriculture downstream. Indian government does not seem to be worried. A government official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said

That New Delhi is not overly concerned. He felt as a rising global power, China has shrinking incentive to unilaterally dam rivers to its neighbors’ disadvantage.

Arvind Subramanian of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington said tensions could rise as climate change melts the Himalayan glaciers and changes the patterns of water distribution in Asia. The risk is that China then takes a larger share of diminished rivers, magnifying the effects of climate change on downstream nations such as India.And because the upstream power also has military, strategic and economic advantages, many observers say India has minimal bargaining power.“India has very little leverage over China, and this is just one more lever that China is acquiring,” said Harsh Pant of the defense studies department at King’s College London.

Source: Simon Denyer,Chinese dams in Tibet raise hackles in India

Pressure China to enter into appropriate water-sharing agreements, February 07, 2013)

On February 16, 2013,electronic media reported thatArunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki plans to ask the central government to look into China constructing three hydropower projects on the Brahmaputra river in Tibet.  He was much  concerned  because he was not certain about the size of these dams.  Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had also requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take up with China the matter regarding the construction of the three dams on the Brahmaputra.

(Source:http://zeenews.india.com/news/north-east/chinese-dams-worry-arunachal-pradesh_829401.html

Claude Arpi, feels that the solution is definitively not building more dams in Arunachal Pradesh.He gives two examples to show how these dams are security threats. One is thecollapse of the Malpasset dam in France on December 2, 1959. He writes

Shortly after 9 pm, the entire dam wall broke open, with only a few blocks remaining on the right bank. The breach created a massive wave -- 40 metres high -- which moved at a speed of 70 km per hour. It destroyed two small villages, Malpasset and Bozon, the highway construction site nearby and 20 minutes later reached the town of Frjus. The wave was still three metres high. Various small roads and railroad tracks were destroyed on the way and the western half of Frjus town was flooded.

The tragedy claimed the lives of 423 people.

According to a French television documentary, the collapse of the Malpasset dam could have been an act of terrorism by Algeria's National Liberation Front. Apri feels the dam construction should also be viewed in the light of tense India

China relations.

The seismology of the area should also be considered.

Recently, a study by the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore revealed for the first time that in 1255 and 1934, two great earthquakes ruptured the surface of the earth in the Himalayas.Quakes also occurred in 1897, 1905, 1934 and 1950, with magnitudes between 7.8 and 8.9 on the Richter Scale, and caused tremendous damage.Professor Paul Tapponnier of the French Academy of Sciences, discovered that the 1934 earthquake did rupture the surface of the earth, damaging the ground across an area of more than 150 km, in the Himalayas.Building dams in these areas is a dangerous business.

 (Source: Claude Arpi, China's dams on Brahmaputra can be dangerous business

February 07, 2013 22:00 IST Rediff.com)

In view of flood devastations in Uttarakhand Himalaya dam construction projects should be thoroughly reviewed in the Himalayan region.