Tag : Environmentalist

Dehradun: As Uttarakhand picks up the pieces after recent cloudbursts that claimed a dozen lives and damaged infrastructure, noted environmentalist Anil Prakash Joshi has warned of a much worse scenario in the coming years if necessary safeguards are not put in place to conserve the fragile Himalayan ecology. "A reckless exploitation of natural resources in a blind pursuit of development will further aggravate the situation and may lead to far worse human tragedies. So it is better to wake up before it is too late and take enough preventive measures," Joshi told PTI in an interview on Sunday. It is high time an international debate began on growing ecological insecurity of the world and the perils of rising air pollution and depleting water resources, he said. "Around 200 years ago the challenge was economic insecurity as there were no roads, no infrastructure, no jobs. But now the challenge has changed to the growing ecological insecurity of the world which comes with economic growth," Joshi, who was conferred the Padma Bhushan in 2020 for his contribution in the field of environment conservation, said. The responsibility of a Himalayan state like Uttarakhand is bigger in tackling this challenge as the rivers originating from the state fulfil the irrigational requirements of the rest of the country, he said. Joshi coined the term Gross Environmental Product (GEP), an ecological growth measure parallel to the GDP. His coinage gained currency with Uttarakhand officially accepting it as a growth measure in June, 2021. On mega infrastructure projects underway in Uttarakhand such as the Rs 12,000-crore all-weather road project and the Rishikesh-Karnaprayag rail line, Joshi said development is an irreversible process but it must go hand ...