All resources on Earth are considered as a joint-usufruct which should be used and shared equally between all human beings, as well as all other creatures on the Earth, in accordance with their material and spiritual needs. Such equity in sharing must continue now and in the future, so that the planet Earth may not be endangered nor the interests of its future generations are disrupted or adversely affected. According to Ibn Majah, Anas reported that the Messenger of God, the Prophet Mohamed, said: If any one deprives an heir of his inheritance, Allah will deprive him of his inheritance in Paradise on the Day of Resurrection. God says in the holy Quran, It is He Who has produced you from the Earth and settled you therein (Quran 71: 1718). With regard to Gods saying: And He has made the ships to be of service unto you, that they may sail the sea by His command, and the rivers He has made of service unto you. And He has made the sun and the moon, constant in their courses, to be of service unto you, and He has made of service unto you the night and day. And He gives you all you seek of Him: If you would count the bounty of God, you could never reckon it. (Quran 14:32-34). All human beings and, indeed, livestock and wildlife as well, enjoy the right to share in the resources of the earth. Mans abuse of any resource, such as water, air, land, and soil as well as other living creatures such as plants and animals is forbidden, and the best use of all resources, both living and lifeless, is prescribed.
The healthy and sustainable environment is what everybody loves and enjoys, but people at large hardly cares for environment. People who protect environment are scanty and are at highest risk in the society. Those who are defending developmental projects that cause negative impact to the environment are more vulnerable. The government organisations are much bothered about their GDP rather than conservation of environment. The state of Jammu and Kashmir in terms of environmental conservation exists nowhere. As the demand for natural resources increases the threat to the environment increases due to population pressure, as according to the 2011 census the population of J&K stands at about 12 million, making it the 19th most populated state in India, hence, the demand of resources and exploitation of resources increased accordingly.
The recorded forest area of Jammu & Kashmir is 20230 Sq. kms. which constitutes 19.95 % of geographical area of the State which is less than the average forest cover of India (23.54%), although, considerable improvements has been achieved by JK forest department during the last two years as per the data published by Forest survey of India. Forest cover in Jammu and Kashmir, is shrinking with every passing day while on the other. The politician-land mafia nexus has encroached upon over 2.66 lakh kanals of forest land, which has a direct impact on the ecology of the state. The heritage that man inherited in the shape of green and the dense forests is rapidly facing extension, and with it plant and animal species are also facing rapid extension. The entire atmosphere in fact is getting destroyed, thanks to the unsatiable greed of man himself. If one were to talk of Kashmir alone, much of the forest wealth has gone into furnishing the drawing rooms of the Millionaires who operate from their air conditioned chambers. Was any attempt ever made to educate poor little villager that what he was parting today would spell of disaster for him tomorrow? And educating him would also block the way of the profiteers who reap the biggest harvest by encroaching on the wealth bestowed by nature. Should we take lessons from Chipko Movement or the people like Sunder Lal Bahuguna will inspire us to plant more and more trees.
The state is so rich in its mineral wealth like arsenic ores, bauxite, borax, coal, gold, gypsum, lignite, limestone, manganese, marble, and sapphire that if exploited judiciously to its fullest extent, it can get economic revolution, which can entirely change the fate of the people in valley. But the wise and judicious use of these resources is again a question mark for the policy makers, planners, economists, politicians and environmentalist of the state as non-renewable resources can be used up within 50 years.
The biodiversity rich area of Kashmir happens to be one of the 26 hotspots in India. The whole Himalayan belt is one hotspots mega centre, having eight critical areas which include two regions from the state viz; Ladakh and Kashmir Himalayas. But these regions are under constant threat due to natural factors like volcanic eruptions, glaciations, drought, desertification and manmade factors like pollution, habitat destruction, habitat fragmentation, agriculture. Most of the species in these regions have become extinct without our knowledge and currently we are struggling with the conservation and protection of some of the important medicinal plants and animals, birds, fishes, mammals. The prominent examples include Aconitum deinorrhizum, A. kashmiricum, Berberis huegelium, B. kashmiriana, Podophyllum hexandrum, Meconopsis latifolia, Papaver himalaicum, Rhus anomalus, A. bakeri, Potentilla kashmirica, Inula racemosa, Lactuca benthamii, Cervus elaphus hanglus, Felis chaus etc., and the list is endless.
The pollution level assessment by Ambient Air Pollution Database revealed that among 20 most polluted cities in the world 13 are from India and Jammu is one of them with PM2.5 concentrations of 56 ug/m3annually. The concentration of particulate matter level is higher than the prescribed limits that can expose people to cancer, stroke and heart disease. The latest data is not available as the Envis Centre Jammu and Kashmir has not updated their website since 2013 in this regard and the data was not also available at the website of JKSPB.
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The situation of water bodies in the state is not quite appreciative. The water bodies like Dal, Wullar, Mansbal etc have became the dumping grounds of waste. Reports indicated that the Wullar, Mansbal, and Anchar lakes are likewise under threat. Wullar, the largest freshwater lake in Asia, has shrunk from 190 square kilometres to 72 square kilometres. Despite having been named a Wetland of International Importance under the 1990 Ramsar Convention, illegal use of 8260 acres of land officially designated as federally-protected lakefront continues at Wullar. The Hokersar wetland, situated 16 kilometres north of Srinagar, has shrunk to 4.5 square kilometres from its original area of 13.75 square kilometres. The 240 km Jhelum River, with a catchment area of thousands of kms, is also quickly becoming polluted. The dredging of river Jhelum has been initiated to restore its glory but expected results have not been achieved. Dumping of garbage on the banks of water bodies is taking a heavy toll of the water body. In 2000, India framed a solid waste policy that are applicable to Jammu & Kashmir as well, requiring all cities to devise comprehensive waste-management programmes that include household collection of segregated waste, recycling and composting but this was never implemented systematically and scientifically. Further, Location criteria for Landfills as per Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organization and MSW guidelines published by Ministry of Urban Development clearly stated that no landfill within 200 m of a lake or pond is allowed under any circumstances. A report by Centre for Science and Environment, Delhi, based on surveys of wastewater profiles of 71 Indian cities, highlights lack of infrastructure and neglect of sewage with less than 30 percent of the country’s officially recorded sewage being treated in proper facilities and it was stated that 70-80 percent of India’s wastewater was ending up in its rivers and lakes. Do we require people like Afroz Shah, who was able to remove 5 million kgs of hazardous waste and plastic trash from the Versova beach or the Government of Jammu and Kashmir will come to our rescue.
The poor collection and processing of garbage, sweeping, solid waste management and open defection were the criteria parameters for the ranking along with 25% marks allotted to field inspection and 30% were decided on the basis of citizen feedback. We must learn from the cleanest cities of world to manage waste. Both cities lack extensive public transportation system that has enhanced fuels consumption, mismanagement of traffic and increased pollution. The most innovative waste management system is required for clean and green cities, according to which the waste is collected from the homes by an underground network of waste disposal. Most of the waste needs to be recycled and the rest can be used for landfills. Now a days dumping of solid waste can be seen along the national highway near Himalayan Eco-Sensitive Areas as well. The philosophy of Dr Bindeshwar Pathak who is an icon of sanitation and social reformer need to be developed to make our cities clean.The spiritual sympathy with nature needs to be developed. Nature should not be judged according to human needs. We will have brotherhood with nature the trees and wildlife. The conservation of natural resources is the need of the hour. Conservation is the most cost effective and environmentally sound way to reduce our demands for water, energy, plant and animal products. By following simple steps at individual level we may contribute a lot to the society. We should not only understand what conservation is all about but also implement measures to conserve water, energy and biodiversity at all levels. We should create the ways and means of environmental awareness to the society. It is not only at home, we can use simple steps at schools, colleges, and universities, offices and public places to save resources.