‘People for Himalaya’ campaign for securing mountains futures

New Delhi : Over 50 different social and environmental organizations and individuals from the Himalayan states and other parts of the country came together to release a declaration under the 'People for Himalaya' campaign. The past year, i.e 2023 began with the spotlight on the horrific land subsidence in Joshimath, Uttarakhand, followed by a series of disasters in Himachal in July and August and then the tragic floods on the Teesta river in the Eastern Himalayas in October.The impacts of dry winters of 2024 with little or no snowfall in the region will be evident in the next few month. As has happened before, the media attention on these disasters fades, but the questions related to the impact of these disasters and their systemic causes continue to stare the entire Himalayan region in the face. Last week on 27-28 February, representatives of some organizations of these hill states met for a two-day dialogue 'Himalaya, Disaster and People' in which 'People for Himalaya' campaign declaration was prepared. Climate scientists present at the meeting warned that on one hand are extreme events leading to visible catastrophes and the other area slow onset climatic events like rapidly increasing temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, decline in snowfall and continuous melting of glaciers which threaten the Himalayan ecosystem and the livelihoods and survival of the millions of mountain dependent people. A recently published study has shown how 90% of Himalayas face year-long drought at 3 degrees global warming.

The declaration that has been issued by signatories from Assam, Arunachal, Manipur, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal, Jammu and Kashmir states that these climatic disasters are systemic and policy induced disasters and result of historical processes of natural resource exploitation and governance failure at various levels – from global to local. ‘We refuse to call them ‘natural’ disasters.’ The declaration goes on to highlight that those who are the least responsible for these disasters are in fact the worst impacted by these disasters – and have been further marginalized. These include marginal farmers, landless dalits, forest dwellers, adivasis, women, migrant workers, pastoralists, minorities, persons with disabilities and those living in conflict zones. Those sitting at the helm of decision making from the countries and financial institutions of the global north, to the national and state governments and governance institutions, corporates and contractors – must be accountable for the commodification of the Himalaya. Decrying mindless infrastructures like mega dams, four lane highways, railway projects, commercial tourism and rampant urbanisation the declaration states, ‘In the last few decades of greed in the name of development – have caused unprecedented land use change damaging Himalayan rivers, forests, grasslands and mountains.’

Local societal and livelihood resilience has been destroyed and replaced with top-down, market dependent and techno-managerial solutions implemented through international loans and maldesigned climate finance projects. These structural and policy changes have disabled the building of resilient policies of the Himalayan states. During the two day dialogue in Himachal the experience from all the Himalayan region was that in case of extreme events post-disaster support from the centre has been inadequate and restricted to relief with no attention to or support for prevention and rehabilitation. Despite repeated demands from Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh in 2023 these disasters were not declared ‘national disasters’. There is little place for people - gram sabhas and municipal bodies - to participate in the post disaster governance planning and climate resilient policy making.

The declaration raises the issue of dilution and non-implementation of environmental laws and protective policies like land and housing rights, forest rights, rehabilitation and relocation of development/disaster affected people and labour laws. ‘The ‘People for Himalaya’ campaign will work in solidarity for the wellbeing and sustenance of our Himalayan natural heritage - glaciers, rivers, alpine pastures, forests and lands and diverse inhabitants whose identity and survival depend on the Himalaya. We stand in alliance with organisations that support and advocate for democratic and decentralized governance in the Himalaya based on the principles of - sustainability guided by balancing science and indigenous knowledge; gender, caste, ethnic and intergenerational equity; and climate justice.’ The campaign will release a detailed demand charter in the coming days.