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Himalayan glaciers fast retreating: Vandana Shiva

— Photo: Vipin Chandran

Raising points:Environmentalist Vandana Shiva greeting former Supreme Court judge V.R. Krishna Iyer at a seminar on water resources management organised by Rotary International District 3201 in Kochi on Saturday.

KOCHI: The Himalayan glaciers are retreating at an alarming rate, contrary to the findings of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, environmental activist Vandana Shiva has said.

In her keynote address at the ‘Jalam Amritham, Water The Elixir of Life,' a seminar on water resources management, organised by the Rotary International District 3201, here on Saturday, Ms. Shiva said the annual monsoons would not be able to make up for the melting of glaciers, if it continued.

Pointing out that glacier retreat would have an adverse impact on the ecology, she said it would not be possible to pinpoint the exact timing of glacier melting as 2035, as suggested by the Inter-Governmental Panel for Climate Change.

Blaming the Ministry for not addressing the issue seriously, Ms. Shiva said effective steps should be taken to avert a crisis.

She said the Green Revolution had affected the ecology of the country drastically. She said it could not succeed as the use of water for agricultural purposes had exceeded considerably.

Five to 10 times more water was used for agriculture, triggering an additional demand for the precious resource following the Green Revolution. Ms. Shiva said the Green Revolution also encouraged the setting up of tube-wells across the country, leading to unchecked use of water. She said the wastage of water would go up if the country continued to focus on nutritional food.

She said the country needed to come up with water conservation zones.

She praised the efforts made by activists such as Mayilamma against the exploitation of water by Coca-Cola at Plachimada. She said several women across the country were suffering as they had to travel miles to collect water daily.

The former Supreme Court judge V.R. Krishna Iyer said the lack of drinking water had affected the lives of lakhs of people.

He said the governments had failed to protect the rights of the people, including providing them with pure water. Mr. Iyer urged the governments to initiate immediate steps to conserve water resources for the welfare of society.

Sushil Gupta, chairman, Rotary India Water Conservation Trust; K.K. Mathews, Rotary District governor; and V.R. Nair, chairman of the organising committee of the seminar, spoke.

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