Top-down model of governance can't work for Himalayan region: Sonam Wangchuk

The 'People for Himalaya' campaign aims towards securing the Himalayas from disasters caused by excessive corporatisation of the region over the years, in the name of development and pilgrim tourism.

Days after announcing a ‘border march’ to highlight the ground realities in the Ladakh region, Sonam Wangchuk, who recently ended his 21-day hunger strike, joined hands with the 'People for Himalaya' campaign along with several civil society groups and activists from the Himalayan region.

Speaking at an online press conference on Friday, he said, “A top-down model of development and governance cannot work for the region which has its unique topography, culture and lifestyle.”

The campaign aims towards securing the Himalayas from disasters caused by excessive corporatisation of the region over the years, in the name of development and pilgrim tourism.

A demand charter released by the campaign noted that over the years, the Himalayan region has been facing frequent extreme climatic events such as landslides, intense rainfall, floods, cloudbursts and heat waves alongside slow onset events of decreasing snowfall, rising temperatures and glacial melts. As a result of this, the farming communities in the region are witnessing a drastic decrease in crop yields, it said.

Kashmir-based writer and researcher Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhatt highlighted the apathy and failure of central institutions in the regulation of wetlands in the Himalayan region and said that the farming communities were most affected by the mindless policymaking of the present ruling government.

Guman Singh, from Himalaya Niti Abhiyan, and Atul Sati of Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti demanded a complete halt on mega infrastructures like large dams, railways and four-lane roads in ecologically sensitive areas, which alter the local geology and livelihoods of many.

Several activists, including Vimla Vishwapremi, of Parvatiya Mahila Adhikar Manch, Aman Gujjar, from Van Gujjar Tribal Yuva Sangathan, and Anmol Ohri, from Climate Front Jammu, raised concerns about the impact of man-made disasters on landless labourers, Dalits, and adivasis and women in the region.

They also oppose excessive mining in the Himalayan rivers such as Leh and Doodhganga. Mayalmit Lepcha, from Affected Citizens of Teesta, expressed serious concerns about the ecological impacts of massive hydropower development proposed on the Brahmaputra and its river basins without the consent of local indigenous communities.

The ‘People for Himalaya’ campaign comes in the wake of the Lok Sabha elections, urging the government to take the Himalayan situation from the plight of the nomads who are losing the 'prime pasture of the land to huge industrialists'.