Jammu and Kashmir

The TERI Corporate Awards for Environmental Excellence is an Award given in recognition of corporate leadership efforts towards environmental management and sustainable initiatives. The objective is to encourage and provide momentum to innovative environmental initiatives. This year the award was given to National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Ltd (NHPC)in recognition for its contribution towards the environment. But a number of persons and organisations, including Senior Supreme Court lawyer Shri Prashant Bhushan (Ph: 09811164068) and a detailed study by South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People (SANDRP) a letter objecting the award to NHPC was sent to the jury of TERI.

Content and Image Courtesy: BORDA- South Asia

The Ladakh Ecological Development Group (LEDeG) with its partners Bremen Overseas Research & Development Association (BORDA) and the Consortium for DEWATS Dissemination Society (CDD), India in collaboration with the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern (FHNW) Switzerland, is organising a two weeks training programme titled ‘International On-Site Training Programme on Community-Based Micro Hydro Power Units’

The training is scheduled from 21^st September to 2^nd October, 2009 in Leh and Kargil districts of Ladakh.

The last date for acceptance of the application form is 1 ^st August 2009.The training will be facilitated through the installation of a 30KW MHPU, the training includes lectures, presentations, case studies, practical workshops, study tours etc.

The course Fee is Rs 25,000 which includes local travel expenses with in Ladakh, accommodation, lunch, dinner, refreshments and course materials. Scholarships are available for selected 3 participants.Participants travel expenses to/from the venue not included.

Participants can be from government departments/ agencies, NGOs and private firms provided they fulfill the following eligibility criteria:

It is in Jammu Kashmir and is bordered by the Himalayas and the Karakoram mountain chains. Ladakh and its water sources are almost entirely dependent on the glaciers and snow-melts and changes in water systems can be directly attributed to changes in the glaciers and thus climate change.

Ladakh Ecological Development Group(LEDeG) in collaboration with Bremen Overseas Research and Development Agency(BORDA) has been promoting environmentally friendly Decentralized Renewable Energy Systems (DERES) for the last 20 years in the Western Himalaya.

The following is a paper by Dr. Mohinder Slariya based on data collected during his Ph.D work. The work contains data sourced from the India Water Portal, and aims to illustrate local area climate changes with the development of hydroelectric projects. The abstract of the paper has been quoted below, with the full paper available as a download!

Abstract

Dams have had serious impacts on the lives, livelihoods, cultures and spiritual existence of indigenous, tribal and illiterate people, moreover on the physical environmental conditions and on the biodiversity of the area concerned. The dam related developmental activities in Ravi catchment area have been threatening the biodiversity in the whole catchment. There are more than 50 rivulets in the Ravi catchment and on which more than 70 power projects have been planned by the government by putting biodiversity at the stake. Developmental activities have unintentionally produce weather and climate modifications on a larger scale and threaten the existing biodiversity. Such developmental activities have been started day back in 1980s in Ravi basin with the installation of Baira Suil Power Project and today it has covered all most all Ravi basin starting from interstate broader of Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and engulfed the green cover of the area. Because of this extinction the catchments area is experiencing drastic climatic changes, because of 100 km reservoirs of Shahpur Kandi (125MW), Thein Dam (600MW), Chamera-I (540MW) and Chamera-II (300 MW) and tunnelization of Ravi in 19.38 kms with a dia of 7 to 9 meters and 102 meters high surge shafts with 15.5 meters dia and underground power houses of Chamera-I & II and dry Ravi in almost all its natural route (27 kilometers in Chamera I & II). In this dry region there is a tremendous increase in the temperature and there is no timely and usual rain in the basin after the installation of power projects.