As part of Climate Himalaya Initiative’s Policy Advocacy efforts on various Climate Change issues,  we  are highlighting the sanitation and pollution embedded scenario across Himalayan region. It includes the garbage coming from a house to one dumped by municipality/ urban local body, and from our various religious practices to tourist influx adding the muck.

We are also highlighting it through social media like Facebook, Linkedin and twitter, where  we received overwhelming response from people concerned about Himalayan Mountains on various actions taken, policy issues, constraint and planned activities.

Waste Management in Himalayan Mountains

FACTS

Realities of Clean Ganges

The roughly 2,500-kilometer-long Ganga originates in the Gangotri glacier in the Himalayas in India’s Uttarakhand state. Around a quarter of India’s 1.2 billion-strong population live in towns and villages along the Ganga.  The holiest of India’s rivers, the Ganga is also among the world’s dirtiest. If in the upper reaches it is dams and mining and stone crushing units that are choking it, downstream it is untreated sewage – over 12,000 million liters of sewage pours into the Ganga daily – as well as effluents from tanneries, industrial waste and agricultural runoffs that have reduced this sacred river to a dark, stinking sewer.

Nearly 89 million liters of sewage is spewed daily into the river from 12 small towns in the Himalayas. At Haridwar, the fecal coliform count exceeds 5,500. It is said that, river basin planning “requires a bottom-up approach with widespread and deep-rooted participation from the people”. http://tiny.cc/pyt30

Kashmir’s urban jungle

Srinagar city, the capital of Kashmir nestled in the north Indian Himalayas, has witnessed massive urbanisation over recent years. Now home to 1.4 million people, the area of the city has expanded substantially, making land management a complex phenomenon. Dal Lake and Nagin Lake have been squeezed from around 36 square kilometres to around 12.5 square kilometres due to sewage, soil erosion, agricultural run-off and deforestation. “The un-planned and un-regulated growth, industrialisation and urbanisation throughout the Himalayan state of Jammu & …have taken a heavy toll on our natural resources..” ..more than 10,000 hectares of agricultural land in Kashmir has been converted for residential and commercial use over the past few years. http://tiny.cc/u3gfi

Urban peaks in the Himalayas

Rampant city development in the world’s most ecologically fragile region will have disastrous consequences if left unchecked. Cities in the Himalayas have exploded in terms of population and size within a few decades. But the haphazard and unplanned nature of this development has meant that essential urban infrastructure and facilities have lagged behind. From Gangtok and Srinagar, nestled in the northern Indian Himalayas, across to Kathmandu Valley in the central Himalayas, and up to the cities of Bhutan and Tibet, perched amid the snowy peaks of the eastern Himalayas, urban development is concreting the mountain slopes.

Gross neglect of city planning in one of the most ecologically fragile and culturally diverse regions of the world has brought a host of new environmental problems. Some potential solutions – climate proof infrastructure and development, cleaning up slums, better regulation and rationing of water resources, sharing of forecasting information and evacuation plans…. http://tiny.cc/kgg1a  

Ganges receding despite rainfall

The Ganges River, India’s heavily polluted spiritual artery, has dropped to alarmingly low levels and begun receding from the historic Varanasi Ghats, which attract millions of pilgrims and tourists each year. Some 350 million Indians live along the Ganges, sending millions of litres of raw human and animal waste and industrial run-off into its channel. At some points Ganges water, supposed to be spiritually cleansing, is said to contain up to 3000 times the recommended safe levels of faecal coliforms. Environmentalists say that it is not enough. River campaigner M.C. Mehta, who has been fighting a 26-year legal battle with the Indian government to clean up the Ganges, says he is alarmed by the plight of the river. http://tiny.cc/lk8sg

Global Information Society Watch 2010: ICTs and Environmental Sustainability – Nepal

This document discusses environmental issues facing Nepal due to both climate change and non-implementation of sustainability policies, particularly around e-waste management (handling of recyclable and non-recyclable materials from non-functioning electronic equipment) of information and communication technology (ICT) tools. The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal was signed by Nepal more than a decade ago, but it has not been applied to e-waste management. A climate change initiative of the Ministry of Environment and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) calls for data collection and the establishment of a knowledge management platform for a national web-based climate and development portal. As the population of Nepal grows, and ICTs become more integral to daily life, there is a growing threat of e-waste as well as the carbon footprint of ICTs themselves. http://tiny.cc/csnew

POLICIES

Ragpickers Recognized in Indian Law

The ragpickers’ associations from 17 cities across India have now formed an “alliance” in Pune. Towards the end of January, about 200 ragpickers from the Alliance of Indian Waste pickers (AIW) gathered near Ahmedabad for the first national conference. Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh was the chief guest, to whom they submitted a memorandum asking for recognition. There are over 15 lakh people like us in India and thanks to us, India has one of the highest recycling rates in the world. http://tiny.cc/udxi5

India: Environment Ministry-MoEF redefines meaning of plastic carry bag

The Union ministry of environment and forests ( MoEF) has redefined the meaning of a plastic carry bag to exclude material used for packaging goods which are sealed before they are used. As per the amendment, carry bags mean bags made from any plastic material, used for the purpose of carrying or dispensing commodities, but do not include bags that constitute or form an integral part of the packaging in which goods are sealed prior to use. In case of packaging, it now means multilayered plastic pouch or sachet. A pouch or sachet means one having at least a layer of plastic in combination with one or more layers of packaging material such as paper, paper board, metalized layers or aluminium foil, either in the form of a laminate or co-extruded structure. http://tiny.cc/nvwm9

Rules to check e-waste pollution

A new regimen envisaging reduction of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment and for storage, collection and disposal of e-waste will come into force in 2012.  “A maximum concentration value of 0.1% by weight in homogenous materials for lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers and of 0.01% by weight in homogenous materials of cadmium shall be permitted,” the rules state. http://tiny.cc/w1czh

INITIATIVES

India

A Cross-Cultural Community Keeps It Clean

The Tibet Post International explores the pioneering waste management projects taking place in His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s town of residence, McLeod Ganj. Will Jodie reveal the mystery behind the missing bins? And what will she think of the dump-site? Join the TPI again next week for the last episode of Cleaning Up Dharamshala – When Garbage Builds Bridges, where we will also talk to Mountain Cleaners Manu and Thinley about the cultural problems related to working with garbage. http://tiny.cc/ew1ft

Groups meet for 2011 Zero Waste Himalaya Regional Workshop

Over centuries, pilgrims and explorers have been visiting the mountains and their numbers were few and the Himalayan ecosystem, fragile as it is, was able to cope with the effects of human exploration in the areas. The workshop primarily aimed to create learning and sharing platform of good practices and waste management issues from across the Himalayan states. It also focused on inculcating the principle of zero waste among the participants. http://tiny.cc/bdl82

British ‘Mountain Cleaners’ give green lessons in Himachal hills

Volunteers adopted the sacred Manimahesh lake in Chamba district for cleaning trash during the month-long annual pilgrimage that began in August. ‘Cleaning the trash from the 14-km track leading to the Manimahesh lake was quite mammoth. But we somehow succeeded in encouraging the pilgrims to take back the plastic waste or dispose of their discarded clothes at identified dumping sites. We will visit that area again during the next pilgrimage,’ Jodie added. Every year, more than 500,000 devotees undertake the pilgrimage to Manimahesh, from where they can see Mount Kailash, believed to be the abode of Lord Shiva. http://tiny.cc/83j1m

Pakistan

UNFCCC supports Pakistani firm to earn carbon credits

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will support the private sector waste management company, Waste Busters, which has recently concluded the financial of a 10 million euros project to divert over 300,000 metric tonnes municipal solid waste from landfills and convert it into energy. The consortium plans to establish waste to energy plants in all major cities of Pakistan for long term concession agreements with the cities of Lahore, Rawalpindi and Peshawer already under way. http://tiny.cc/jgo2t

Nepal

World record holder Apa Sherpa going to the summit of Mt. Everest for the 21st time

Dawa Steven Sherpa and his Eco Everest Expedition team are continuing this initiative to create awareness among the local people and among the climbers to help keep Mt.Everest and the Himalayan Mountains clean. Eco Everest Expeditions have been taking a message to “stop climate change” as it destroys the Himalayan environment and threatening the lives and livelyhoods of the mountain communities. Since 2008, the Eco Everest Expeditions have collected and brought off the mountain nearly 12,000 kgs of garbage. The aim is is to clean up a total of 5000 Kilograms of garbage from Mt. Everest this year. http://tiny.cc/t92dq

Everest waste set to arrive in capital

About five metric tonnes of waste dumped in the Everest region will be brought to Kathmandu by tomorrow. On the initiation of Everest Summiteers’ Association (ESA), the government, Eco Himal, Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee were involved in the collection of the waste from April 17 to May 27. Working for a month, 29 mountaineers have brought 8.1 metric tonnes of waste dumped in the Everest region since 1953 to Namche, where 3.2 metric tonnes of waste, mainly plastics and papers, will be disposed within a month. Rest of the waste, including oxygen cylinders, helicopter debris, metals, cans and bottles, will be sent to Kathmandu.

Government of not bothering to remove waste from the region. “It even failed to take legal action against the polluters.” Murari Bahadur Karki, joint secretary at the MoTCA, said both the private sector and the government should work together to make the polluters pay. http://tiny.cc/ywy85

Singha Durbar to be plastic-free zone

The government has decided to make Singha Durbar — the administrative headquarters — a plastic-free zone. Plastic bags less than 20 micron thickness are non-reusable. Khanal also directed authorities to launch a special programme to increase greenery in the Valley. http://tiny.cc/pr6du

World Environment Day goes to ever higher heights on Mount Everest

Thousands of projects are taking place internationally for World Environment Day ( WED ), but perhaps none as high as the clean-up operation held some 8,848 metres above sea level on Mount Everest. For WED 2011, the Everest Region and the Government of Nepal joined hands with several organisations and volunteers to launch the “Saving Mount Everest 2011- 2012″ project.  To help remedy the problem, a Saving Mount Everest Clean-Up Expedition, headed by the ESA, trekked up the mountain from 15 April to 29 May 2011and brought down a total of 8,110 kilos, or nearly eight tons, of garbage. Of the collected garbage, 3,200 kilos were disposable waste and was handed over to the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee ( SPCC ), the local non-governmental organization that is responsible for managing waste in the region. The Government of Nepal has formed the ‘Himalaya Environment Conservation, Monitoring and Management Committee’ . http://tiny.cc/dz5es

 OPINION 

National policy for use of river water needed: conservationist

The work of the MoEF should be the protection and conservation of forests and the environment. Instead, it has become pollutant protection ministry. There is continuous corruption and violence against our rivers. To stop it, we need a policy that will protect the river flood plane and river land. We also need to establish the principles of river and sewer separation… http://tiny.cc/3jlb0

The sadhu who clicks

The sun glares down at the Himalayan temple town of Gangotri, located at an altitude of 10,300 ft in the Garhwal Himalayas. This is the home of the Ganga, India’s holiest river, whose physical source at Gaumukh lies just 19 km away. Although the air is cold here, the sun is harsh. “It’s becoming hotter every year,” points out the sadhu. “People say it is global warming. I say it is a global warning.” Over the past six decades, he has combined his interests to raise awareness about the Ganga. “When I first came to this region, it was one of the most beautiful part of the Himalayas,” he says. “It is difficult to imagine the purity of the Ganga and the abundance of Himalayan vegetation and fauna that was prevalent then. We don’t know what we have cruelly destroyed.” http://tiny.cc/lpxs5

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