On earthquake and landslide workshop held at Gopeshwar, experts said that any building activity around Badrinath caused a great danger of erosion and landslides in the extremely fragile environment. Earth scientists, engineering experts and environmentalists had a dialogue and exchange of views on building safe houses and taking other measures of survival in that seismic zone, where tectonic activity was taking place continuously. A suggestion was made for setting up a Himalayan Disaster Mitigation Centre, which would have all the data of seismic activity.

Melting Himalayan glaciers may unleash a torrent of floods in mountain valleys of north India within next 40 years and after flood these rivers would dry up due to lack of glaciers. The study reveal by environmentalist Syed Iqbal Hasnain that the rate of ice accumulation is lower than that of melting due to global warming, thereby triggering death of Himalayan glaciers. Himalayan glaciers in Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim have reduced considerably, and by the year 2035 most of them will vanish at their present rate of decline. Recession of glaciers may decrease water resources and increase glacier related hazards like floods caused by sudden outburst of glacier lakes cause a serious threat in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan and China.

The de-notification of a part of the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) in Kullu district by the Himachal Pradesh Government for setting up of a hydro-electric project, is being opposed by environmentalists. About 10 km² of the GHNP itself and a lot of its buffer zone would be affected by proposed 2051MW Parbati Hydel Project at the district. The environmentalists opposing the exclusion of this area from ‘great ecological, faunal, floral, geomorphologic and geological importance of GHNP’ and demanding restoration of the status of the Park.

Incidents of landslides, changes in river regimes and floods will increase as Himalayan glaciers including the Gangotri glacier recede at a phenomenal rate, according to experts of Geological Survey of India. Most geologists agree that global warming combined with large scale deforestation and increased human activity near the glacier have let to the increased rate of recession. Inspite of the fact that Himalayan waters are the lifeblood of millions of Indians, the Government is ignoring, even various initiatives being taken out by our neighboring countries to monitor glaciers.

Loktak, the biggest natural lake in north-east India is dying, as out of its 289 km² area, at least 206 km² is covered by bio-mass, according to scientists. About 30 small rivers in Manipur along with 2,000 fisherfolk, who have made home on the lake, are dumping all kinds of debris into the lake. Before the construction of Ithal Barrage for power generation, most of the rivers did not empty themselves into the lake and flowed towards Myanmar, but the Loktak Hydroelectric Project had aggravated the problem.

Though the demand for fur made by snow leopard pelts may have gone down, but the demand for bones and body parts as marketable items for use in traditional Chinese medicine has gone up, according to the Conservation Director of the International Snow Leopard Trust. The estimated figure of this endangered species is about 4500-7500 are distributed through the mountain ranges of China, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and other south Asian states. Erosion of traditional knowledge, reduced herder vigilance, increased livestock numbers, and other animal husbandry changes are emerging as a grave threat to the endangered cat. Conservationists see an urgent need to continue long term research, which should focus on management issues like livestock depredation and rangeland competition between domestic stock and wild ungulates.

The rare species of Kargil in Jammu & Kashmir disappeared from their native areas after the outbreak of recent Indo-Pak conflict. The victims are snow leopards, wolves, brown beer and ibex, mostly found in Drass, Batalik, Kargil and Karakurrum in Turtuk - all affected by the recent two-month-long conflict between India and Pakistan. Though the wildlife warden in Ladakh confirmed that the two-month-long shelling in Kargil did affect the wildlife, with rare species having migrated to safer places, but denied any casualties among these. With Pakistani shells still occasionally hitting the area, these wild animals are not returning to their native places.

The Gangotri Conservation Project (GCP), jointly administered by Government of India, State Government of Uttar Pradesh, Himalayan Environment Trust, environment experts and local representatives have recommended a monitoring station at Gangotri in view of disturbing reports about the Bhagirathi river shrinking drastically. The main objectives set out for GCP are to green and clean the Gangotri basin, develop low cost sanitation schemes and schemes for solid waste disposal, develop alternative energy programmes for conservation of environment with maximum involvement of local populace.

The rainy season, this year has left an unbearable tale of disaster, thousands of people homeless, hundreds of acres of fertile land has been ravaged by the floods in Himachal Pradesh. The state government has suffered an estimated loss of Rs. 500 crore. In Kangra district alone over 100 link roads were damaged and yet to be restored. The reckless, unscientific mining and quarrying in the state have been attributed to be a major cause for the repeated flashfloods in this region. It is revealed that illegal mining and quarrying has taken a new turn in the past few years and political interference in the functioning of Forest and Mining Departments had worsened the matters. Experts feel that if no effective measures are adopted and sincere efforts made, the fury of floods will continue to hit the ecology of the state year after year.

The rich forest cover of the two hill districts of North Cachar Hills and Karbi Anglong is under threat of denudation as the banned NSCN and local militant outfits are indulging in the illegal felling of trees by issuing permits to some timber contractors. In spite of being fully aware of the militants activities, the police officials are helpless to take proper action against the culprits, because of the difficult terrain in the border areas due to extremely harsh conditions and the shortage of adequate staff.

The Indian Concrete Institute in Manipur is designing earthquake resistant buildings in the North-East to reduce the damage induced by the frequent tremors as the region is considered one of the most earthquake-prone zones in the world. Engineers and architects in the state have made a breakthrough in developing quake-resistant buildings. Prof. S.K. Jain of IIT has recommended the replacement of the traditional timber, with alternate material without changing the quake-resistant features of the ‘Assam-type’ houses.

To preserve the world famous Wullar lake in North Kashmir, the largest freshwater lake in Asia, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has banned all types of industrial activity within seven km of the lake. In a notification issued recently, the ministry has impressed upon the State Pollution Control Board that no industrial activity should be allowed within the prescribed limit. Besides the lake has been declared a wetland, also been identified by the Environment Department for special attention in environmental point of view.

Evacuation of the old town and villages in the Tehri valley, as scheduled, remains an impossible task even as the game of passing the buck continues unabated. The task of rehabilitation of more then 30,000 oustees was handed over to the state government authorities after persistent complaints about insensitivity, irregularities and corruption by the officials of the Tehri Hydro Development Corporation. According to the survey, not less tan 9,546 families are yet to be rehabilitated. The next stage of construction of the dam project which involves filling up a substantial portion of the proposed reservoir. Besides over a 15,000 population of the Old Tehri, as many as 125 villages would be affected by the reservoir. Of these 37 villages are likely to be submerged completely, while remaining 88 would be partially submerged.