At
CPEP, esro Kashmir initiative, we have a mission with agenda to
motivate the political regime to resolve political instability with
ecological stability and to promote green code of conduct among
defence think tank that advance the well being of both environment
and people. We are a small, but effective, group of experienced eco
advocates who seek to initiate catalyze actions that prevent
destruction of Kashmir's natural resources on the name of non eco
defence and security planning and operations and level the playing
field by infusing resources and broad-based support into campaigns
to protect fragile ecology of Kashmir.
GREEN PEACE PARK PLAN KASHMIR HIMALAYAN PEAKS
The Advocacy of turning the glacial region at Siachen into a
transboundary peace park
The Siachen glacier may be the world’s highest war zone. Here,
bullets whistle over the wild roses and snow leopards’ dens,
endangering the fragile environment as they perpetuate the
decades-long war between India and Pakistan. But this beleaguered
bit of no-man’s-land high up in the Himalayas could be in for a
radical recasting. Last month, a group of Pakistani and Indian
mountain climbers gathered in the Swiss Alps to highlight the plight
of Siachen and other threatened cross-border regions. The solution?
Designating the glacier a ‘peace park’ where the two hostile nations
can cooperate for the sake of sustainable development.
Battling against the elements as well as each other, thousands of
soldiers from these South Asian neighbours have been killed over the
past 20 years, the vast majority succumbing to the bitter weather.
Despite bearing the scars of war, the glacier and its surrounding
region remain rich in biodiversity, the abode not just of the
elusive leopards but also of brown bears and herbivores such as
ibex. But ecologists believe that these and other species are now
under severe threat from the military presence in the area. Troop
movements around strategic locations and firing practice – as well
as the military detritus left behind – disturb wildlife, affecting
their breeding and spreading disease.
It has been estimated that more than 30 per cent of the region’s
endemic flora is threatened. Some species are believed to be
extinct. Meanwhile the World Conservation Union (IUCN) lists nearly
half the region’s mammalian diversity as threatened. Several
species, such as the Tibetan gazelle, are understood to be on the
brink of extinction – if not already over the edge.
Such concerns from ecologists have now prompted calls for the
governments of India and Pakistan to reduce their military presence
in the region, and jointly begin the task of regenerating its
biodiversity by setting up the peace park.
Paradise regained
Peace parks – protected areas straddling the boundaries of
neighbouring and sometimes hostile states – are not a new idea. The
first, the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, was
established nearly 70 years ago between the United States and
Canada.
The premise behind peace parks is that neighbouring states, by
jointly managing common protected areas, can foster more peaceful
relations. It’s an ambitious notion, and one that is now undergoing
a renaissance – the number of new parks nearly tripled (to 169)
between 1988 and 2001. Only three years ago, for instance, South
Africa and Botswana announced their own first officially designated
transfrontier park.
Although most of these transboundary parks lie across areas that
aren’t in conflict, the esro has advocated creating 'parks for
peace' for several years. The organisation believes that “protected
areas along national frontiers can not only conserve biodiversity
but can also be powerful symbols and agents of cooperation,
especially in areas of territorial conflict". And India and Pakistan
are no strangers to such conflict. The countries have fought three
wars since independence from Britain in 1947, mostly over the former
princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. Relations between them – at
best lukewarm – have been tense over the past five years, following
the election of the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
government in India in 1998, tit-for-tat nuclear tests, and a
military coup in Pakistan in 1999. After an attack on the Indian
parliament in December 2001, an estimated one million soldiers faced
each other in a lengthy stand-off along the border, which many
analysts thought would lead to a fourth war.
Thankfully, the governments stepped back and have begun to talk
again in recent months. Transport links have been restored, and a
visit to Pakistan from an all-party delegation of 30 Indian MPs was
regarded by both sides as a success. But can this goodwill extend to
the idea of a peace park at Siachen?
A handful of success stories round the world are hinting it just
might work. In 1998 Peru and Ecuador resolved a long-running
territorial dispute with an innovative plan to create two national
peace parks near the most contested stretch of land on their border,
according to IUCN chief scientist Jeffrey McNeely. Until then the
countries had fought three wars along their border, with Ecuador
demanding sovereign rights over the disputed territory. Four
mediators – Argentina, Brazil, Chile and the United States –
brokered the agreement and granted Ecuador free trade and
navigational access to the economically important shipping routes in
Peru’s Amazon region.
Similarly, two years ago, Colombia’s rebel Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC), agreed to jointly manage with the
government large swathes of protected areas that were under FARC
control. The rebels did not want the areas to deteriorate, but also
knew that they lacked the expertise to do the job themselves.
Around the same time a peace park was proposed for the demilitarised
zone (DMZ) that separates North and South Korea. Nelson Mandela said
that such a project could "help peace take root in one of the
world's last Cold-War frontiers". The area has been untouched by
humans for nearly half a century following its devastation during
the war, and is a sanctuary for native plants and animals. A group
of eminent scientists and conservationists have given their support
to the 'DMZ forum' initiative, which is urging leaders of the two
Koreas to work together to transform it into a world peace park and
environmental laboratory.
esro Greening Asia Concept
The idea of turning the glacial region at Siachen into a
transboundary peace park was first mooted several years ago by esro
International and such a concept "would work not only toward
disengagement [from military activities] but also toward the
creation of a park to protect the environment".
The idea was proposed again at a workshop in Dhaka in June organised
by the IUCN and the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) in
preparation for the World Parks Congress, held earlier this month in
Durban, South Africa.
It was great achievement of the our advocacy objectives that a
statement was adopted at the Dhaka meeting : “As part of the
normalisation process / confidence building measures, the
governments of India and Pakistan are urged to establish a Siachen
Peace Park to protect and restore the spectacular landscapes which
are home to so many endangered species including the snow leopard.”
Lending support to the initiative is Kashmir based esro Node as an
local network & is running a petition calling for the establishment
of the Siachen peace park and plans to take up the issue at Durban.
The response to the signature campaign has been very positive.
Siachen is not the only cross-border area in the region that is
crying out for conservation, Pakistan contains five of the eco
regions – large areas of relatively uniform climate that harbour a
characteristic set of species and ecological communities – ranked
among WWF's ‘Global 200’ areas critical to global conservation and
three of these regions border India.
What is the outlook for such eco-gems? If a number of green projects
on both sides of the border are anything to go by, it will be
positive. Several international non-governmental organisations
(NGOs) are exploring how the two countries can work together to
conserve biodiversity. WWF-Pakistan, for example, is discussing with
its Indian counterpart ways of conserving marine turtles and river
dolphins. And the International Crane Foundation is encouraging
India and Pakistan to collaborate in the conservation of migratory
cranes and flamingoes.
Elsewhere across the region, the idea of joint conservation has
taken off in a modest way. Bangladesh and India, for example, are
working to preserve the Sunderbans – the world’s largest mangrove
system – three-quarters of which lies in Bangladesh. And in August,
Bangladesh and India announced plans to begin the world’s largest
tiger census.
Meanwhile, India and Nepal have set up a permanent transboundary
biodiversity conservation network. Two countries are also working
closely on conservation projects in the Himalayas, concentrating on
the Terrai region where endangered tigers and rhinos roam. It has
been estimated that almost half the native species in the eastern
Himalayas are threatened with extinction, including the golden
langur monkey, the lesser panda and the Himalayan black bear.
Pie in the sky ?
Majority of Green Think Tanks across the globe are optimistic that a
joint India-Pakistan initiative over Siachen could be on the cards.
“With the situation improving, all this might happen in the years to
come, Institutions from both sides would like to have collaboration
and partnership." and accepts that significant progress in the
dialogue between the two countries is probably needed before the
park can leave the drawing board. They believe that policies within
each country will decide the way forward, a view widely shared by
others.
But here in Kashmir , general opinion points out that there has been
little real collaboration among the biodiversity research community
of the two countries. “There have been no systematic attempts – let
alone interaction between the countries – to study biodiversity
hotspots on either side of the borders,” says, Regional Project
Coordinator esro Kashmir Chapter.
Although we cannot foresee the two countries making peace based on a
commitment to shared conservation alone. "It is an area that could
be included down the line as a positive result of achieving peace."
But we find it difficult to see any of the participants to the
conflict currently putting this high on their agendas as a reason
for making peace.
Separatists puts it more bluntly: “we cannot have a peace park with
armies sitting out there, shooting left, right and centre.” Even the
WCPA acknowledges that plans for peace parks should not be too
ambitious. A report on its activities in 2000 states that "the
creation of a protected area will not in itself resolve a dispute
but protected areas can be part of the resolution settlement".
Most observers doubt that the current thaw in relations between
India and Pakistan will lead to a political agreement between the
two countries any time soon, if at all. The past five decades are
too full of false starts and dashed expectations. What is clear from
the past, however, is that improved relations have led to progress
in other areas.
For instance, there has been a boost in officially sanctioned
contact between different groups of professionals in India and
Pakistan, such as journalists, teachers and parliamentarians. In
recent years there has also been an easing of travel restrictions
for ordinary citizens, and there is talk of reviving exchange visits
by school children.
What the NGOs seem to be arguing for now is that this contact be
taken a stage further by lobbying the two countries to think about
working together on a shared problem. A peace park at Siachen – or
in another cross-border area – will not directly result in peace
between India and Pakistan. But it could help to erode some of the
mistrust and misinformation that five decades of hostility have
helped to spread in the minds of ordinary Indians and Pakistanis, as
well as symbolise a genuine desire for peace in Kashmir.
There are possibilities for future collaboration, and given the
improved political climate, it may now be easier to initiate some
modest early measures.
History of Trans Border
Conflicts & Green Parks
A handful of success stories round the world are hinting it just
might work. In 1998 Peru and Ecuador resolved a long-running
territorial dispute with an innovative plan to create two national
peace parks near the most contested stretch of land on their border.
Until then the countries had fought three wars along their border,
with Ecuador demanding sovereign rights over the disputed territory.
Four mediators – Argentina, Brazil, Chile and the United States –
brokered the agreement and granted Ecuador free trade and
navigational access to the economically important shipping routes in
Peru’s Amazon region.
Similarly, two years ago, Colombia’s rebel Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC), agreed to jointly manage with the
government large swathes of protected areas that were under FARC
control. The rebels did not want the areas to deteriorate, but also
knew that they lacked the expertise to do the job themselves. Around
the same time a peace park was proposed for the demilitarised zone
(DMZ) that separates North and South Korea. Nelson Mandela said that
such a project could "help peace take root in one of the world's
last Cold-War frontiers". The area has been untouched by humans for
nearly half a century following its devastation during the war, and
is a sanctuary for native plants and animals. A group of eminent
scientists and conservationists have given their support to the 'DMZ
forum' initiative, which is urging leaders of the two Koreas to work
together to transform it into a world peace park and environmental
laboratory.
Peace parks – protected areas straddling the boundaries of
neighbouring and sometimes hostile states – are not a new idea. The
first, the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, was
established nearly 70 years ago between the United States and
Canada. The premise behind peace parks is that neighbouring states,
by jointly managing common protected areas, can foster more peaceful
relations. It’s an ambitious notion, and one that is now undergoing
a renaissance – the number of new parks nearly tripled (to 169)
between 1988 and 2001.
Only four years ago, for instance, South Africa and Botswana
announced their own first officially designated transfrontier
park.Although most of these transboundary parks lie across areas
that aren’t in conflict, the esro has advocated creating 'parks for
peace' for several years. The organisation believes that “protected
areas along national frontiers can not only conserve biodiversity
but can also be powerful symbols and agents of cooperation,
especially in areas of territorial conflict".
Military Maneuvers at Siachen
Highest Waste Dumping Site in the World
The military
standoff at the Siachen Glacier is a huge environmental loss.
Studies have found that about 12,000 tons of loads are flown into
the Siachen Glacier every
year, including
the one, which is para-dropped there. Going by these estimates, it
is estimated that 21,6,000 tons of loads have been transported on to
the Glacier since 1984, the year of militarisation of the Glacier.
It is estimated that out of the total load off-loaded on the
Glacier, over 50 per cent have been dumped there as hazardous waste.
Experts
claim that 40 per cent of this waste is plastic and metal. As a
consequence, Siachen Glacier has become the world's biggest and the
highest garbage dump, which mainly consists of plastic, remains of
crashed helicopters, worn out gun barrels, splinters from gun
shelling, empty fuel barrels, burnt shelters, telephone wires, skid
boards, para-dropping
boards, edible oil
containers, canisters, gunny bags, rotten vegetables, bad meat,
expired tinned meat, cartons, wrappers, shoes, clothing, ration
items etc. Items damaged or lost due to misjudged para dropping too
add to this list. It also includes bodies, which could not be
recovered.
Lakhs of parachutes are used to drop rations over the posts in both
India and Pakistan. Though reusable, these parachutes lie at the
posts and are not re-inducted. All this non- biodegradable waste has
become a part of the snow of the glacier. It has been found that one
of the edges of the Siachen Glacier has receded by more than 200
yards. The oozing out of the toxic substances by these materials is
a continuous phenomenon, which are released into rivers as and when
the glacier melts. All toxic washing residue as a result of
continuous washing of clothes on the Glacier flows into the Nubra
River. The Nubra goes to join the Shayok River and ultimately flows
into the Indus.
UNEP Report & Military
Maneuvers
Research has shown that contamination of Indus waters in upper
Pakistan has much to do with the pollution of the catchment of the
Indus Basin.
The latest report of the United Nations' Environment Program (UNEP)
has revealed that the lakes forming in the Himalayas and other
mountains ranges, because of global warming and localized thermal
stimulation activities, like military maneuvers, threaten the lives
of tens and thousands of people in the valleys. It has reported that
glaciers are retreating and high altitude snowfields are melting
fast and in response to rise in temperatures, lakes directly fed by
glaciers are swelling. In Nepal and Bhutan, for instance, the study
has found that 44 lakes were filling so rapidly that they were in
danger of bursting within five to ten years, sending millions of
gallons of water into populated valleys. It has been divulged that
there are 2323 such glacial lakes in the Himalayas in Nepal and in
the Hindukush.
eIEN South Asia
Western Himalaya Kashmir
CPEP KASHMIR
promoting peace in Indian Sub Continent through eco issues.esrokashmir.org
HOME
Welcome at
CPEP
eIEN South Asia
Western Himalaya Kashmir
At CPEP, esro Kashmir initiative, we have a mission with agenda to motivate the political regime to resolve political instability with ecological stability and to promote green code of conduct among defence think tank that advance the well being of both environment and people. We are a small, but effective, group of experienced eco advocates who seek to initiate catalyze actions that prevent destruction of Kashmir's natural resources on the name of non eco defence and security planning and operations and level the playing field by infusing resources and broad-based support into campaigns to protect fragile ecology of Kashmir.
GREEN PEACE PARK PLAN KASHMIR HIMALAYAN PEAKS
The Advocacy of turning the glacial region at Siachen into a transboundary peace park
The Siachen glacier may be the world’s highest war zone. Here, bullets whistle over the wild roses and snow leopards’ dens, endangering the fragile environment as they perpetuate the decades-long war between India and Pakistan. But this beleaguered bit of no-man’s-land high up in the Himalayas could be in for a radical recasting. Last month, a group of Pakistani and Indian mountain climbers gathered in the Swiss Alps to highlight the plight of Siachen and other threatened cross-border regions. The solution? Designating the glacier a ‘peace park’ where the two hostile nations can cooperate for the sake of sustainable development.
Battling against the elements as well as each other, thousands of soldiers from these South Asian neighbours have been killed over the past 20 years, the vast majority succumbing to the bitter weather. Despite bearing the scars of war, the glacier and its surrounding region remain rich in biodiversity, the abode not just of the elusive leopards but also of brown bears and herbivores such as ibex. But ecologists believe that these and other species are now under severe threat from the military presence in the area. Troop movements around strategic locations and firing practice – as well as the military detritus left behind – disturb wildlife, affecting their breeding and spreading disease.
It has been estimated that more than 30 per cent of the region’s endemic flora is threatened. Some species are believed to be extinct. Meanwhile the World Conservation Union (IUCN) lists nearly half the region’s mammalian diversity as threatened. Several species, such as the Tibetan gazelle, are understood to be on the brink of extinction – if not already over the edge.
Such concerns from ecologists have now prompted calls for the governments of India and Pakistan to reduce their military presence in the region, and jointly begin the task of regenerating its biodiversity by setting up the peace park.
Paradise regained
Peace parks – protected areas straddling the boundaries of neighbouring and sometimes hostile states – are not a new idea. The first, the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, was established nearly 70 years ago between the United States and Canada.
The premise behind peace parks is that neighbouring states, by jointly managing common protected areas, can foster more peaceful relations. It’s an ambitious notion, and one that is now undergoing a renaissance – the number of new parks nearly tripled (to 169) between 1988 and 2001. Only three years ago, for instance, South Africa and Botswana announced their own first officially designated transfrontier park.
Although most of these transboundary parks lie across areas that aren’t in conflict, the esro has advocated creating 'parks for peace' for several years. The organisation believes that “protected areas along national frontiers can not only conserve biodiversity but can also be powerful symbols and agents of cooperation, especially in areas of territorial conflict". And India and Pakistan are no strangers to such conflict. The countries have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947, mostly over the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. Relations between them – at best lukewarm – have been tense over the past five years, following the election of the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in India in 1998, tit-for-tat nuclear tests, and a military coup in Pakistan in 1999. After an attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001, an estimated one million soldiers faced each other in a lengthy stand-off along the border, which many analysts thought would lead to a fourth war.
Thankfully, the governments stepped back and have begun to talk again in recent months. Transport links have been restored, and a visit to Pakistan from an all-party delegation of 30 Indian MPs was regarded by both sides as a success. But can this goodwill extend to the idea of a peace park at Siachen?
A handful of success stories round the world are hinting it just might work. In 1998 Peru and Ecuador resolved a long-running territorial dispute with an innovative plan to create two national peace parks near the most contested stretch of land on their border, according to IUCN chief scientist Jeffrey McNeely. Until then the countries had fought three wars along their border, with Ecuador demanding sovereign rights over the disputed territory. Four mediators – Argentina, Brazil, Chile and the United States – brokered the agreement and granted Ecuador free trade and navigational access to the economically important shipping routes in Peru’s Amazon region.
Similarly, two years ago, Colombia’s rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), agreed to jointly manage with the government large swathes of protected areas that were under FARC control. The rebels did not want the areas to deteriorate, but also knew that they lacked the expertise to do the job themselves.
Around the same time a peace park was proposed for the demilitarised zone (DMZ) that separates North and South Korea. Nelson Mandela said that such a project could "help peace take root in one of the world's last Cold-War frontiers". The area has been untouched by humans for nearly half a century following its devastation during the war, and is a sanctuary for native plants and animals. A group of eminent scientists and conservationists have given their support to the 'DMZ forum' initiative, which is urging leaders of the two Koreas to work together to transform it into a world peace park and environmental laboratory.
esro Greening Asia Concept
The idea of turning the glacial region at Siachen into a transboundary peace park was first mooted several years ago by esro International and such a concept "would work not only toward disengagement [from military activities] but also toward the creation of a park to protect the environment".
The idea was proposed again at a workshop in Dhaka in June organised by the IUCN and the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) in preparation for the World Parks Congress, held earlier this month in Durban, South Africa.
It was great achievement of the our advocacy objectives that a statement was adopted at the Dhaka meeting : “As part of the normalisation process / confidence building measures, the governments of India and Pakistan are urged to establish a Siachen Peace Park to protect and restore the spectacular landscapes which are home to so many endangered species including the snow leopard.”
Lending support to the initiative is Kashmir based esro Node as an local network & is running a petition calling for the establishment of the Siachen peace park and plans to take up the issue at Durban. The response to the signature campaign has been very positive.
Siachen is not the only cross-border area in the region that is crying out for conservation, Pakistan contains five of the eco regions – large areas of relatively uniform climate that harbour a characteristic set of species and ecological communities – ranked among WWF's ‘Global 200’ areas critical to global conservation and three of these regions border India.
What is the outlook for such eco-gems? If a number of green projects on both sides of the border are anything to go by, it will be positive. Several international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are exploring how the two countries can work together to conserve biodiversity. WWF-Pakistan, for example, is discussing with its Indian counterpart ways of conserving marine turtles and river dolphins. And the International Crane Foundation is encouraging India and Pakistan to collaborate in the conservation of migratory cranes and flamingoes.
Elsewhere across the region, the idea of joint conservation has taken off in a modest way. Bangladesh and India, for example, are working to preserve the Sunderbans – the world’s largest mangrove system – three-quarters of which lies in Bangladesh. And in August, Bangladesh and India announced plans to begin the world’s largest tiger census.
Meanwhile, India and Nepal have set up a permanent transboundary biodiversity conservation network. Two countries are also working closely on conservation projects in the Himalayas, concentrating on the Terrai region where endangered tigers and rhinos roam. It has been estimated that almost half the native species in the eastern Himalayas are threatened with extinction, including the golden langur monkey, the lesser panda and the Himalayan black bear.
Pie in the sky ?
Majority of Green Think Tanks across the globe are optimistic that a joint India-Pakistan initiative over Siachen could be on the cards. “With the situation improving, all this might happen in the years to come, Institutions from both sides would like to have collaboration and partnership." and accepts that significant progress in the dialogue between the two countries is probably needed before the park can leave the drawing board. They believe that policies within each country will decide the way forward, a view widely shared by others.
But here in Kashmir , general opinion points out that there has been little real collaboration among the biodiversity research community of the two countries. “There have been no systematic attempts – let alone interaction between the countries – to study biodiversity hotspots on either side of the borders,” says, Regional Project Coordinator esro Kashmir Chapter.
Although we cannot foresee the two countries making peace based on a commitment to shared conservation alone. "It is an area that could be included down the line as a positive result of achieving peace."
But we find it difficult to see any of the participants to the conflict currently putting this high on their agendas as a reason for making peace.
Separatists puts it more bluntly: “we cannot have a peace park with armies sitting out there, shooting left, right and centre.” Even the WCPA acknowledges that plans for peace parks should not be too ambitious. A report on its activities in 2000 states that "the creation of a protected area will not in itself resolve a dispute but protected areas can be part of the resolution settlement".
Most observers doubt that the current thaw in relations between India and Pakistan will lead to a political agreement between the two countries any time soon, if at all. The past five decades are too full of false starts and dashed expectations. What is clear from the past, however, is that improved relations have led to progress in other areas.
For instance, there has been a boost in officially sanctioned contact between different groups of professionals in India and Pakistan, such as journalists, teachers and parliamentarians. In recent years there has also been an easing of travel restrictions for ordinary citizens, and there is talk of reviving exchange visits by school children.
What the NGOs seem to be arguing for now is that this contact be taken a stage further by lobbying the two countries to think about working together on a shared problem. A peace park at Siachen – or in another cross-border area – will not directly result in peace between India and Pakistan. But it could help to erode some of the mistrust and misinformation that five decades of hostility have helped to spread in the minds of ordinary Indians and Pakistanis, as well as symbolise a genuine desire for peace in Kashmir.
There are possibilities for future collaboration, and given the improved political climate, it may now be easier to initiate some modest early measures.
History of Trans Border Conflicts & Green Parks
A handful of success stories round the world are hinting it just might work. In 1998 Peru and Ecuador resolved a long-running territorial dispute with an innovative plan to create two national peace parks near the most contested stretch of land on their border. Until then the countries had fought three wars along their border, with Ecuador demanding sovereign rights over the disputed territory. Four mediators – Argentina, Brazil, Chile and the United States – brokered the agreement and granted Ecuador free trade and navigational access to the economically important shipping routes in Peru’s Amazon region.
Similarly, two years ago, Colombia’s rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), agreed to jointly manage with the government large swathes of protected areas that were under FARC control. The rebels did not want the areas to deteriorate, but also knew that they lacked the expertise to do the job themselves. Around the same time a peace park was proposed for the demilitarised zone (DMZ) that separates North and South Korea. Nelson Mandela said that such a project could "help peace take root in one of the world's last Cold-War frontiers". The area has been untouched by humans for nearly half a century following its devastation during the war, and is a sanctuary for native plants and animals. A group of eminent scientists and conservationists have given their support to the 'DMZ forum' initiative, which is urging leaders of the two Koreas to work together to transform it into a world peace park and environmental laboratory.
Peace parks – protected areas straddling the boundaries of neighbouring and sometimes hostile states – are not a new idea. The first, the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, was established nearly 70 years ago between the United States and Canada. The premise behind peace parks is that neighbouring states, by jointly managing common protected areas, can foster more peaceful relations. It’s an ambitious notion, and one that is now undergoing a renaissance – the number of new parks nearly tripled (to 169) between 1988 and 2001.
Only four years ago, for instance, South Africa and Botswana announced their own first officially designated transfrontier park.Although most of these transboundary parks lie across areas that aren’t in conflict, the esro has advocated creating 'parks for peace' for several years. The organisation believes that “protected areas along national frontiers can not only conserve biodiversity but can also be powerful symbols and agents of cooperation, especially in areas of territorial conflict".
Military Maneuvers at Siachen
Highest Waste Dumping Site in the World
The military standoff at the Siachen Glacier is a huge environmental loss. Studies have found that about 12,000 tons of loads are flown into the Siachen Glacier every year, including the one, which is para-dropped there. Going by these estimates, it is estimated that 21,6,000 tons of loads have been transported on to the Glacier since 1984, the year of militarisation of the Glacier. It is estimated that out of the total load off-loaded on the Glacier, over 50 per cent have been dumped there as hazardous waste. Experts claim that 40 per cent of this waste is plastic and metal. As a consequence, Siachen Glacier has become the world's biggest and the highest garbage dump, which mainly consists of plastic, remains of crashed helicopters, worn out gun barrels, splinters from gun shelling, empty fuel barrels, burnt shelters, telephone wires, skid boards, para-dropping boards, edible oil containers, canisters, gunny bags, rotten vegetables, bad meat, expired tinned meat, cartons, wrappers, shoes, clothing, ration items etc. Items damaged or lost due to misjudged para dropping too add to this list. It also includes bodies, which could not be recovered.
Lakhs of parachutes are used to drop rations over the posts in both India and Pakistan. Though reusable, these parachutes lie at the posts and are not re-inducted. All this non- biodegradable waste has become a part of the snow of the glacier. It has been found that one of the edges of the Siachen Glacier has receded by more than 200 yards. The oozing out of the toxic substances by these materials is a continuous phenomenon, which are released into rivers as and when the glacier melts. All toxic washing residue as a result of continuous washing of clothes on the Glacier flows into the Nubra River. The Nubra goes to join the Shayok River and ultimately flows into the Indus.
UNEP Report & Military Maneuvers
Research has shown that contamination of Indus waters in upper Pakistan has much to do with the pollution of the catchment of the Indus Basin.
The latest report of the United Nations' Environment Program (UNEP) has revealed that the lakes forming in the Himalayas and other mountains ranges, because of global warming and localized thermal stimulation activities, like military maneuvers, threaten the lives of tens and thousands of people in the valleys. It has reported that glaciers are retreating and high altitude snowfields are melting fast and in response to rise in temperatures, lakes directly fed by glaciers are swelling. In Nepal and Bhutan, for instance, the study has found that 44 lakes were filling so rapidly that they were in danger of bursting within five to ten years, sending millions of gallons of water into populated valleys. It has been divulged that there are 2323 such glacial lakes in the Himalayas in Nepal and in the Hindukush.