New Delhi, Feb. 11: A conference on Himalayan rivers and climate change has called for a "climate cess" on automobile manufacturers, thermal power plants and national highway contractors, which shall be for used mitigation of disasters like global warming and climate change.
These three sectors contribute to greenhouse gas emissions in a big way in India, scientists said.
The conference also found fault with the Centre’s recent major initiative called "National Projects" to fund irrigation and hydro power projects on select rivers across the country.
The Centre should have taken into consideration the impact of climate change on the rivers over which major projects are planned before announcing the initiative, the conference said.
The impact of global warming is already showing upon the Himalayas. The 30-km-long Gangotri glacier, the main source of the Ganga river, is receding rapidly.
A new World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) report, "An Overview of Glaciers, Glacier Retreat and Subsequent Impacts in Nepal, India and China", reveals that the rate of retreat of Himalayan glaciers is accelerating as global warming increases. Glaciers in the region are now receding at an average rate of 10 to 15 metres per year.
"The rapid melting of Himalayan glaciers will first increase the volume of water in rivers causing widespread flooding. But, in a few decades, this situation will change and the water level in rivers will decline, meaning massive economic and environmental problems for people in western China, Nepal and northern India," the WWF report said.
As glacial waterflows dwindle, the energy potential of hydropower projects will decrease causing problems for industry, while reduced irrigation means lower crop production and a major threat to food security.
"The primary threats to Himalayan river systems are dams, glacier recession, inter-linking of rivers, pollution, transboundary water-related conflicts," a note circulated in the conference has said.
The conference took note of the huge river diversion programmes under consideration in China and India in order to transfer water from surplus to deficit areas.
In the case of Pakistan, the Indus Water Treaty has laid to rest the grave concerns of Pakistan.
However, the conference said that the Indian government shall take note of China’s plans to divert 200 billion cubic metres of water to feed the Yellow river.
