Green growth

that of trees, the construction of poorly engineered roads and the building of hydroelectric schemes without proper slope management.

Nearly three weeks after floods and landslides devastated Uttarakhand, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna has called for a blanket ban on the construction of residential and commercial complexes in lowlying areas along rivers. Better late than never. Enforcing the ban is going to be tougher than announcing it. But if the state government wants to demonstrate that it means business, it has to follow up on the announcement and its own guidelines.

There are sound guidelines about road construction in hill areas, too, written into the National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem. But there are hardly any examples of these guidelines being followed. The result is that when a road is built, it disrupts the natural slope down which water used to flow to the bottom of the valley. So more water percolates underground, wets the soil, and when there is heavy rain, landslides follow. The guidelines that explain how to avoid this are hardly ever followed.

Unsafe growth is not just the story of Uttarakhand. Out of the 35 states and Union Territories in India, 27 are prone to natural disasters. There is little one can do to alter that. But one can learn lessons from previous disasters and take measures that will reduce the damage.

The question is: Is there a strong political will to put an end to such unplanned growth that ignores rules and guidelines? The 2011 report of a National Workshop on Earthquake Risk Mitigation Strategy in the Northeast in Guwahati says there are over three lakh houses in the Northeast that are made of concrete walls and that “most of these do not conform to the earthquake-resistant building norms”.

Many of these houses are built on dangerously steep slopes. Structural engineers fear that many of these buildings may not withstand the shocks of even minor earthquakes. “Unfortunately the numbers of such vulnerable structures are on the rise. In some cities like Aizawl, Itanagar etc. these are in fact dominating the urban landscapes. These have been further compounded by the increasing number of multi-storeyed structures that flout the norms of basic safety and seismic standards,” the report warns.

What is the way ahead? There are several examples that show that environment and development are not necessarily mutually exclusive. One telling example comes from Tamil Nadu, battered by the 2004 tsunami. Since then, Tamil Nadu and other tsunami-affected regions in Asia have stepped up mangrove restoration projects with the help of local communities. Mangroves, as is well known, act as shields against waves, wind and water currents in general. Gujarat is also restoring degraded mangrove wetlands. Mangrove conservation and restoration is also on in the Sunderbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest that stretches from West Bengal to Bangladesh.

There is much to be learnt from traditional knowledge, especially in disaster-prone areas. Traditional buildings in Kashmir — called Dhajji Diwari — and in Bhuj, Gujarat, escaped mostly unscathed in the last big earthquakes; in Assam houses used to be built on stilts so that they escaped damage during floods; the Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand escaped damage because it is on a hilltop. Working with nature, following rules, is not just being green. It is smart. The writer focuses on development issues in

India and emerging economies. She can be

reached at patralekha.chatterjee

@gmail.com