In view of the recurring landslides and natural calamities in the hilly regions as evident in the recent incidents in Kodagu, Chikkamagalur, etc., the State government has been urged to take up river catchment area protection policy.
C.P. Muthanna, former president, Coorg Wildlife Society, has written a letter to the Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda in this connection underlining the imperatives of conceiving such a policy in the absence of which the river catchment areas were under threat.
Pointing out that climate change was not about Polar Bears stranded on sheets of floating ice in the distant arctic, Mr. Muthanna said that it was a grim reality that was already at the doorsteps.
”From Karnataka’s perspective, Cauvery was a vital river system as it provided drinking water for Mysuru, Bengaluru, and thousands of farmers in the Mandya region. It also sustains large industries and Kodagu being the principal catchment of river Cauvery, a pilot project could be considered for Kodagu,” said Mr. Muthanna who also chairs the Kodagu Model Forest Trust.
He said it is also a national imperative and in Karnataka, the Western Ghats are the source of several important rivers that provide water security. But the entire Western Ghats ecosystem was being subjected to degradation in ways similar to the Himalayas, said Mr. Muthanna.
The mountains have been torn up by the linear development projects and large areas have been inundated due to the construction of dams. In addition, rapid and unregulated urbanisation besides invasive tourism was also adding to demographic pressure on the Western Ghats, Mr. Muthanna added.
The letter to the Revenue Minister pointed out that the country as such does not have a catchment area policy to protect these regions and though an effort was made by constituting the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel in 2010 headed by Madhav Gadgil, its recommendations were never implemented.
Mr. Muthanna said that even the recommendations of the Kasturirangan Committee report which was a diluted version of the Gadgil Committee report, too were not implemented while forest habitats and mountains continue to get degraded.
The resultant degradation of forests and western ghats has also escalated human-animal conflict, said Mr. Muthanna and called for a review of the Gadgil Committee report and Kasturirangan Committee report and implementation for the conservation of catchment areas.
Mr. Muthanna said that the draft policy for the catchment area should be prepared by the Ministry of Water Resources and Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change and placed in the public domain for deliberations before being ratified and implemented.
