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Watersheds: For water supply augmentation & conservation Watersheds are the geographic areas where the water flows to a common point. To mitigate the drought impact, all kinds of soil and water conservation measures are taken up with the involvement of the local communities. This approach helped these areas to manage efficiently the soil, vegetation, water and other resources. By conserving scarce water sources and improving the management of soil and vegetation, watersheds have the potential to create conditions conducive to higher agricultural productivity while conserving natural resources. Checkdams (Bhanadaras) These are check dams or diversion weirs built across rivers. A traditional system found in Maharashtra, their presence raises the water level of the rivers so that it begins to flow into channels. They are also used to impound water and form a large reservoir. Where a bandhara was built across a small stream, the water supply would usually last for a few months after the rains. Source: http://www.rainwaterharvesting.org What a mitigation approach can do? A success story Ralegan, before drought mitigation efforts Ralegan, after drought mitigation efforts The people of Ralegan Siddhi in Maharashtra transformed the dire straits to prosperity. Twenty years ago the village showed all traits of abject poverty. It practically had no trees, the topsoil had blown off, there was no agriculture and people were jobless. Anna Hazare, one of the India's most noted social activists, started his movement concentrating on trapping every drop of rain, which is basically a drought mitigation practice. So the villagers built check dams and tanks. To conserve soil they planted trees. The result: from 80 acres of irrigated area two decades ago, Ralegan Siddhi has a massive area of 1300 acres under irrigation. The migration for jobs has stopped and the per capita income has increased ten times from Rs.225 to 2250 in this span of time. The entire effort was only people’s enterprise and involved no funds or support from the Government. Drought affected villagers working on the construction of a 'check dam' as part of a government cash for work programme. The dam is constructed in a dry river bed and is intended to collect the monsoon rains and replenish the water table. A government relief site in Kutch, western Gujarat. Drought hit villagers are employed as daily laborers constructing water catchment which are a series of interconnecting grids which capture rainwater preventing the run off of the monsoon rains. WEB RESOURCES: http://dmc.kar.nic.in/default.htm; www. watershedindia.net; www.rainwaterharvesting.org; www.drought.unl. edu; “ t o w a r d s s a f e r I N D I A ” 38
CHAPTER 8 FOREST FIRE HAZARDS AND DISASTERS FOREST FIRE – Forest Fire/Wild Fire is one of the destructive natural forces known to mankind. While sometimes caused by lightning, nine out of ten wildfires are human-caused. "Wild Fire" is the term applied to any unwanted and unplanned fire burning in forest, shrub or grass. (Left) A forest fire in the Badai forest area near Shimla. (Right) June 5 2003 - A forest fire rages near the village of Dwarahat in Uttaranchal State. INTRODUCTION As per the latest state of forests report of the Forest Survey of India, the actual forest cover of India is 19.27% of the geographic area, corresponding to 63.3 million ha. Only 38 million ha of forests are well stocked (crown density above 40%). This resource has to meet the demand of a population of 950 million people and around 450 million cattle. As such, country has to meet the needs of 16% of the world's population from 1% of the world forest resources. The same forest has also to cater for 19% of the world cattle population. The forests of the country are therefore, under tremendous pressure. Forest fires are a major cause of degradation of India's forests. About 90% of the forest fires in India are created by humans. The normal fire season in India is from the month of February to mid June. India witnessed the most severe forest fires in the recent time during the summer of 1995 in the hills of Uttaranchal & Himachal Pradesh. The fires were very severe and attracted the attention of whole nation. An area of 677,700 ha was affected by fires. “ t o w a r d s s a f e r I N D I A ” 39
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