Impending Ecological Anarchy: Orissa will turn into a Barren Land!
The eastern Indian state of Orissa will turn to a mass of barren and desert-like lands in another 150 years, warned Water Initiatives Orissa (WIO). This is an alarming finding considering that the world is observing this year as the year of deserts and desertification with the theme, "Let's stop dry lands from turning deserts". Desertification is a process of productivity loss of lands. When severe, it leads to permanent damage. Many parts of Orissa, specifically the western and southern uplands, have developed symptoms of desertification; they have further degraded from drought-prone to desert-prone areas. WIO has reached this conclusion using State data (Orissa Economic Survey; rainfall and temperature data from Climatologically Data of Orissa), which was also substantiated by a public perception survey conducted by Sambalpur-based NGO, Manav Adhikar Seva Samiti (MASS).
WIO, a half-decade-old campaign dealing with water issues under the auspices of MASS, has published these alarming findings in the cover story of WIO's bi-monthly Oriya language Newsletter, 'Panira Dagara' (the Water Messenger) in its latest Jan-Feb 2006 issue. The report claims that in the last 13 years, from 1991-92 to 2004-05, severely degraded land in the state has increased by 136 per cent, barren land has increased by 69 per cent, and the land converted to non-agricultural uses has increased by 34 per cent. This is about 7 per cent of Orissa's total geographical area. By 2004-05, as high as 17.5 per cent of Orissa had turned barren or unsuitable for agriculture. The way mineral and water-guzzling heavy industries are being pushed, the rate at which forest cover is thinning in the state, the rapidity with which the climate is showing changes and the rate at which degradation is increasing, the state may turn a desert even faster.
Agricultural lands are quickly shrinking in mining and industrial districts like Raygada and Jharsuguda. In the Raygada district, unproductive lands are nearly 174 per cent higher than cultivable land. Such lands amount to as high as two-thirds of Jharsuguda's total cultivable area. "The way lands rapidly become barren and degraded, desertification is anything but a reality now," observes WIO.
Desertification will affect the livelihood of millions of people, as the state is highly dependent on agriculture. It has been estimated that 29 lakh hectares of land have already turned barren. According to state agriculture department statistics, about 4.33 million hectares of Orissa's 6.56 million hectares of agricultural land suffer severe erosion and declining fertility, which is as high as 66 per cent of the total agricultural land.
Undoubtedly, the rate at which Orissa's climate is changing is worrisome. A study (M Mohapatra and U C Mohanty, “Spatio-temporal variability of summer monsoon rainfall over Orissa about low-pressure systems,” Journal of Earth System Science, Vol 115, No.2, April 2006) has revealed that rainfall days are reducing by a day in every five years in Orissa. The pattern of rainfall is adding to the pain. Information gathered from the government's rainfall records has revealed that rainfall in the coastal districts of Baleshwar, Puri and Ganjam has increased. In contrast, rainfall in Orissa's western and southern parts has decreased drastically. The recent rainfall averages in Bolangir and Nuapada districts are hovering at a threatening level of around 1000 mm.
Information gathered from the weather department indicates that while the global mean temperature rose by 0.5 degrees Celsius in the last 50 years, that of Orissa rose by 1 degree Celsius. Weather is becoming alarmingly extreme. In a decade, the average of the highest recorded temperatures has increased by 4.4 to 6.6 degrees Celsius, and the average of lowest recorded temperatures has further decreased by 3 to 5.1 degrees Celsius in various parts of Orissa.
"Development emphases of the State Government have narrowed down to industrialization only without any attention given to land and agriculture, which sustain close to 90 per cent of the rural population," according to the WIO report. The combination of polluting and heavy water and mineral-consuming industries will further aggravate land degradation in the state.
Conservative estimates have stated that if the proposed steel plants start functioning, they will emit only 392 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2010. Further, those industrial units, at the present count, will require at least 527 million of clean water and release those as pollutants. Washington-based Institute of Policy Studies (Daphne Wysham “Destroying Orissa, Fuelling Climate Change,” Institute for Policy Studies (USA), April 1997)has cautioned that by 2010, Orissa will emit 7 to 10 per cent of Global Green House Gas emissions.
Two of the major rivers, Mahanadi and Bramhani, are already water-stressed regarding irrigation and riparian use. Though the Government claims to have created irrigation potential for 41 per cent of cultivable lands, the fact that agriculture productions still fluctuate wildly in line with rainfall and that agriculture sector growth in the state has plummeted to negatives is a matter of grave concern. These water-guzzling industries will further make the situation worse, said the report.
Industrial explosion and population are leading to stress on degrading forests. According to 'State of Forests Reports' published by the Forest & Environment Department, between 1986 and 2003, actual forest cover has shrunk by 4,797 sq kilometres. However, areas classified as forest land by the state Government have increased by 2,351 sq kilometres in the same period. Soil erosion due to forest degradation is serious in 52 per cent of the total geographic area of Orissa.
When the whole world has geared up to mitigate the challenges of desertification, the situation in Orissa is starkly the opposite. There is hardly any effort seen at the state government level to recognize this threat and work towards mitigating it. The Government seems least concerned, and its policies hardly reflect any concern for desertification threats to the sustainability of agriculture or the environment. 2006 is being observed throughout the world as the year of Deserts and Desertification. The state should commit itself to reverse the process of desertification if it is serious about poverty eradication and sustainable development.