Lessons from Nature’s Fury

From Himachal Pradesh to Chisoti Paddar, from Chenab to the Tawi, natural catastrophes in the form of cloudbursts and floods have become a routine ritual-sweeping away humans and villages in the fiery waters. The rise in the water levels of rivers like the Chenab and Tawi above danger levels is also threatening humans living on their banks.

The visuals across Jammu and Kashmir are so painful and disheartening that they compel us to confront an existential question: Do we have a sense of duty towards saving our common resources – our rivers, mountains, glaciers, and our forests?

This question has been nagging my mind ever since I was recently involved with humanitarian aid to Chisoti Paddar and Margi Wadwan, two far-flung tehsils of District Kishtwar, affected by cloudbursts, flash floods and landslides. I was associated with two local non-government organisations (NGOs) - Patwar Association Kishtwar and the Lyceum Study Center Kishtwar.

My experience taught me that all the work we were doing – relief camps, aid distribution, awareness campaigns and seminars – are insufficient without collective action. In the absence of the latter, they are reduced to what Sartre called ‘bad faith’. Our conversations and thoughts on climate change, ecological balance, and the threats of melting glaciers or sinking islands cannot be confined only to debates, white papers, or sensitization through social networking sites. They must be action-oriented, with time-bound achievable goals, and with a strong focus on feedback from implementation.

The actions must be anchored in time tested sustainable development models. While big projects and economy are important, they must not endanger our ecology through loss of biodiversity, deforestation, and displacement. The big players in the game of growth and development must understand that corporate social responsibility is not just a buzzword, or a tool for advertisement-based philanthropy, but a real accountability mechanism to ensure adoption of clean, eco-friendly technology, alternative sources of clean energy, ecosystem restoration, and cutting emissions.

The government must move beyond policy formulation to earnest implementation.

A clean, green, pollution-free environment is part and parcel of our right to life enshrined in Article 21 of Indian Constitution, the scope of which was expanded by the Supreme Court of India in Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978).

As for ordinary citizens, there is no right without duty, the same applies to ecology. We must fulfill our fundamental duty to protect the environment, forests, rivers, and more, as enshrined in Article 51A(g) of our Constitution. The message of international protocols—from the Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC to the Paris Agreement—is the same.

This message reminds us that true humans are saviours in their role, destroyers.

Every flood, cloudburst, drought, or landslide is a call from nature asking us humans why did we disturb nature’s balance. It is a warning reminding us of our moral imperatives of introspecting what kind of a planet do we want to save for our children? A livable planet—or only memories of what once was? Our planet is our collective inheritance, our common property as humankind. To protect it is not an option. It is a duty owed to the living and to generations yet unborn.

Humanity today is facing two serious non-traditional threats to human security: climate change and cybersecurity. One is the physical threat—destroying crops, homes, and ecosystems. The other is the digital threat—capable of crippling systems that manage data and virtual space. Together, they form a deadly nexus. To ignore them is to gamble with survival itself. So, we must speak up and act, without allowing ourselves to be hijacked by the tyranny of brand and casino capitalism.

Let the recent tragedies and the ongoing threats of natural disasters not be lost in oblivion.

(Mohd Arif Mir is a Patwari in the Revenue Department and District President All Jammu and Kashmir Patwar Association (AJKPA). The views expressed are personal. He can be emailed at mohammadarifmir7@gmail.com)