Swat Valley: Environmental catastrophe

Construction of bases in environmentally sensitive and fragile zones, may endanger food, water security of the valley.

The Swat Valley, once a hotbed of the Pakistani Taliban, faces an environmental challenge that needs immediate attention by authorities across the board. Climate change and environmental disasters have already exposed the population to physical, economic and social vulnerabilities due to the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme events and natural hazards such as recurrent flash floods and depletion of natural resources, particularly forests.

On top of this, recent construction activities, particularly in environmentally sensitive zones of the valley, should be a cause of concern for environmentalists, since this will further aggravate environmental sensitivity and compromise the already depleting food, water and natural resources crucial for the livelihood of the locals.

The Swat Valley lies in the Trans Hindu Kush-Himalaya mountain range, which experts consider to be the hotspot of climate change. The phenomenon of climate change was one of the main factors that triggered the floods of 2010, which washed away 54 villages along with agriculture land, orchards and livestock, destroying the infrastructure in Swat.

The upper reaches of the valley, particularly Kalam, in Swat-Kohistan, was a hard hit area where the flood not only destroyed and damaged housing, agriculture lands and hotels but also washed away the road from Madyan to Kalam, which was the only crucial land route on which the area depended for communication and transportation.

Since the last decade, erratic rain patterns and seasonal changes in the valley have been observed.

The Kohistanis of Kalam, who do not have a tradition of migration, have recently undertaken migration as a livelihood diversification strategy and as self-insurance against the risks at the household level — all owing to climate change.

The loss of income from forest royalty and tourism, reduced productivity  from agriculture, deforestation (the broad-leaved forest was also a source of fodder for livestock) damaged of agriculture land and road by the flood are factors that forced about 80 per cent of Kohistanis to seasonally migrate to the plains of Punjab for five to six months in the winter.

During last four decades, Swat has been affected by substantial rural to urban migration from the surrounding districts and regions that disturbed the population equilibrium and resulted in haphazard urbanisation. Urban planning and development experts believe that such demographic changes, resulting in unplanned urbanisation in the absence of a land use plan and town planning and building codes brought the city to the verge of collapse, making it unlivable.

The valley already faces multiple effects of environmental disasters, extreme climate events, depletion of natural resources, and loss of traditional sources of livelihood, population growth and militancy.

The increased human activity necessitated by the construction of military bases, particularly in environmentally sensitive and fragile zones of the valley, will have far-reaching negative effects on the environment and conservational services that may endanger the food and water security of the valley as well as downstream riparian areas.

The government, instead of allowing for increased human activity in the environmentally strategic and fragile zone, should capitalise on its natural riches by conserving the environment and development of basic infrastructures that can provide environmental services to the entire country, increase the tourism potential of the valley that can not only contribute to the gross domestic product but also to a more better image of Pakistan.

The ill-conceived plan by the government in the name of security and its ensuing paraphernalia to meet short-term traditional security challenges will compromise the long-term and non-traditional security of the people.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 28^th, 2014.

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