A comprehensive master plan on land utilisation strategy based on a clear environmental vision needs to be prepared at macro and micro-levels to ensure that encroachment is minimal.
A blueprint that demarcates areas suitable for habituation and those to be left untouched should help strictly implement the basic tenets of land zonation. It is important to bring in restrictions on machine-mediated quarrying activities. While deciding on it, local soil properties and slope stability should be important factors to be considered rather than political expediency. It is important that for the hilly districts of Idukki and Wayanad, both the local and State authorities should rely on scientific reports on the landslide vulnerabilities to reach decisions on land allocations for various constructions. On the unchecked land use pattern in the hilly districts The construction activities will also hasten soil erosion, land degradation, flooding and habitat destruction, decimate water bodies, hamper the movement of the dependent biological entities and, indeed, the livelihoods of many of the local inhabitants. As a result, the construction and operation of the railway will quite likely degrade, fragment and ultimately destroy these ecosystems. The line will also cut through a number of eco-sensitive heritage sites such as the Madayipara biodiversity park in Kannur, the Kadalundi bird sanctuary in Kozhikode, the Ponnani-Thrissur Kole wetlands and the historical Thirunavaya ponds, lakes and wetlands in Malappuram. This project will require the State to acquire 1,383 hectares and will cut through many of the State’s ecologically fragile coastal ecosystems, including wetlands, forest areas, backwater regions, densely populated areas and paddy fields. Take the case of the new railway project, which will have a direct bearing on future flood disasters. Even after several flood disasters in the recent past, the mindset of politicians has not changed in their approach to developmental projects. Combined with the weather forecasts, these maps should have been used to issue warnings to the local population. I don’t think such facilities are available. Some of the recommendations include the production of flood zonation maps in Kerala that should be available on digital platforms.
But I doubt the State has made any meaningful advances in bringing about a change in that front despite the recommendations.
#Advanced mac cleaner 2018 how to#
Kerala must think how to implement an advanced environmental protection system that will ultimately reduce the human cost. The 2018-2019 flood was a warning that the State should have heeded and accept vagaries of climate as a new norm.
What are the lessons not learnt from the deluge in 2018, 2019 Rajendran, geoscientist and Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, in an e-mail interview to The Hindu as the State continues to reel under the effects of flood and rain havoc. “The mindset of politicians in their approach to development projects has not changed even after several flood disasters in the recent past in Kerala,” says C.
0 kommentar(er)
