gilgit baltistan: a critical but unknown pivot of south asia under
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Gilgit Baltistan: A Critical but Unknown Pivot of South Asia under Threat
Unrepresented Nations and Peoples
Development in Gilgit Baltistan – Root Cause for Environmental Degradation and Impacts Beyond
05 May 2011
Lakhu Luhana
1
Format of Presentation
�Environmental Overview of Gilgit Baltistan
�International Environmental Policy and Law
�Development OR Environmental Degradation - Major Environmental Issues & Impacts
�Environmental Impacts on Sindh�Conclusions
2
Environmental Overview of GilgitBaltistan
� Gilgit Baltistan in its current shape is a country on an area of about 2.5 times the size of Belgium
� It has a very fragile ecosystem established over millions of years of natural evaluation
� The region consists of valleys with rivers, streams, lakes and glaciers and tall mountains, Many unique and endangered habitats andspecies
� The second tallest mountain peak, K2� Three largest glaciers outside the polar
regions� The impact of environmental changes in Gilgit Baltistan goes
far beyond its boundaries 3
International Policy and Legislation – Environmental Degradation
� United Nations High Level Threat Panel identified ten major dangers having serious potential of risk to damaging humankind and its habitat.
� Environmental degradation is at number three in that list of ten threats.
� Environmental degradation could be defined as deterioration of environment (air, water, soil), depletion of resources and loss of ecosystems and wildlife.
4
International Policy and Legislation –International Environmental Law
� A number of international agreements are in place to minimize/avoid damage to the environment. Those relevant in case of Gilgit Baltistan include:
� Climate Change - United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol on Global Warming
� Sustainable Development - The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
� Biodiversity - Convention on Biological Diversity
� Hazardous Materials and Activities - Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal
� Cultural Preservation - Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural & Natural Heritage
� Desertification - United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
5
Major Causes of Environmental Degradation in Gilgit Baltistan
�The major causes of environmental degradation in Gilgit Baltistan are man-made associated with so-called development and include:� Large infrastructure projects – roads,
railway lines, gas and oil pipelines � Mining� Dams
6
Road and Rail Projects
� Widening Karakoram Highway from 10m to 30m and triple its transportation capacity
� High-speed train line and about20 tunnels
� Bothe projects built by China Road and Bridge Corporation
7
Environmental Impacts of Road, Rail, Pipelines Projects
� Melting of glaciers� Damage to sensitive ecosystems� Loss of productive agricultural lands� Resettlement of large numbers of people� Permanent disruption of local economic activities� Demographic changes� Accelerated urbanization� Introduction of disease
8
Gilgit Baltistan Map of Mines
9
Mining in Gilgit Baltistan
�Gilgit and Baltistan is very rich in mineral resources.
�Thousands of mines are spread all over GilgitBaltistan.
�The mines include gemstones, metals (gold, silver etc) and other minerals
� In recent years hundreds of mines have been leased either to China or to Pakistani authorities as a result mining activities have significantly increased 10
Environmental Impacts of Mining
� Removal of topsoil and vegetation
� Release of toxic chemicals into the environment affecting air, water, soil, aquatic organisms, wildlife and humans.
� Large disturbances adversely affect aquatic habitats (lakes, ponds, streams, rivers), terrestrial habitats (deserts, grasslands, forests)
� Increase risk of seismic activity
� Increase glacial melting
11
Dams in Gilgit Baltistan
�Environmental scientists all over world agree that dams do more harm than good
�Pakistan is following a very aggressive policy of building new dams in Gilgit and Baltistan
�Six large dams planned including Skardo(15000 MW), Diamer-Bhasha (4500 MW), Bunji(7000 MW), Yulbu (3000 MW), Raikot (675 MW), Hanzel (3000 MW), Tengus (625 MW) and Shengus (625 MW)
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Environmental Impacts of Dams
� Destroying ecosystems
� Wholesale displacement of
population
� Destroying archaeological sites
� Glacial melting
� Change in weather patterns
� Mud slides
� Floods
� Droughts
� Soil erosion
� Change of earth's rotation13
Impacts on Sindh - 1
�River Indus is the lifeline of Sindh
�A number of mega water projects: Tarbela dam, Mangladam and numerous canals on river Indus have resulted in severe shortage of water of agriculture and drinking
14
Impacts on Sindh - 2
� Water has decreased by 90% down Kotri Barrage
since 1970s
� The thousands years old ecosystems have
irreversibly been damaged� The droughts are causing changes in weather
pattern
� Poverty has increased due to severe damage to agriculture
� Any new dam will be a death warrant for Sindh
Impacts on Sindh – 3
� Climate changes - unusual glacial melting and other abrupt weather patterns such as heavy rains cause serious natural disasters in Sindh
� After 18 years sustained drought last year Sindh saw the worst floods in its known history
� 10 million people were displaced
� Thousands of towns and villages submerged
� Over 100 billion Rs worth of crops, properties and infrastructure destroyed
� Still more than one million people are homeless
16
Conclusions 1
� The so-called major development projects by Pakistan in collusion with China in Gilgit Baltistanare causing severe environmental degradation.
� The activities of Pakistan are:� irreversibly damaging the thousands years old
sensitive ecosystems� Displacing local population� Destroying thousands years old archeology and
historical sites� Changing demography
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Conclusions 2
� The activities are against the international laws, agreements and conventions: Climate Change, Sustainable Development, Biodiversity, Hazardous Materials and Activities, Cultural Preservation, Desertification
� Any new dams on river Indus and its tributary rivers will be a death warrant for Sindhi people
� International community should not support or finance these projects and press upon Pakistan to stop these anti-environment projects
18
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