DARJEELING: No swallows, no snow. And soon, no apples either


BY DEEP GAZMER AND ANAND BODH

There was a time, not too long ago, when the air around Darjeeling was as crisp as the tea it produced. The abusive Indian summer hardly ever Reduced forest cover in Himachal Pradesh has led to a rise in temperatures and increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere touched the Queen of the Hills and tourists had a good time round the year. But that’s changing.

Flora and fauna are depleting and, landslides, brought about by changing rainfall patterns, are now common. The changing climate has impacted the agricultural sector, too. With water resources drying up, those who live in the hill town face acute drinking water crisis as well.

The dark winters are giving way, too. These days, there’s more winter sunshine in the Hills than in the Terai. It’s been years since schools gave sunshine holidays to excited students. There is more of it now. Perhaps it has to do with the sun, but rhododendrons and magnolia are blooming as early as January and it is surprising a lot of people.

One of them happens to be Bharat Prakash Rai, secretary of the Federation of Society for Environment Protection (FOSEP) in Darjeeling. “Normally, the flowers would bloom around February,” he says, ” but the January blooming has confused many migratory bird species, used as they are to reaching later. Birds are pollinating agents, but due to early flowering, they are often absent in the region due to this confusion.”

A few years ago, places like Kurseong and Tindharia used to swarm with sparrows and swallows. The birds were virtually everywhere – lined up atop electric poles and telephone wires, a sight that was part of the landscape. In fact, the chirping of birds, especially swallows, is woven firmly into the very fabric of social life here, finding mention in folksongs and lore.

Sadly, the birds have all but disappeared. Instead, the new winged guests of the Hills are flies and mosquitoes, hitherto found only in the plains of Siliguri and beyond. “Due to warmer weather and a corresponding increase in insects and germs, things like ginger and oranges are rarely growing to potential. It was different 10 years ago,” says Rai, shaking his head.

Marigold, an integral part of Nepali culture, what with Tihar and Bhaitika (the Nepali version of Diwali and Bhaidooj) being incomplete without garlands strung from these, grows perceptibly less these days. Men nowadays pin just one flower – instead of the time-honoured garland – to their coat lapels in nostalgic symbolism.

The biggest threat though is the steady drying up of natural sources of water and the increasingly rare bouts of snowfall, something that can play havoc with an economy heavily dependent on tourism.

There is deep concern in Himachal Pradesh too. At the Himalayan Chief Ministers’ conclave on climate change, held in Shimla in October this year, environmentalists said the Hills couldn’t wait for a comprehensive, national policy to come into effect. They said they needed to do something on their own. Now.

They have reason to panic. Even as glaciers are melting, temperatures in the region are heading north, triggering unprecedented sale of ACs and fans. Kullu valley alone has become warmer by an average of 0.9°C in the last three decades. Other parts of the state have seen a rise ranging between 0.3 to 1.7°C, bringing down the number of ‘chilling hours’ required for a good apple crop from 1,200 to 800 hours.

Until a few years ago, people in Kullu, especially around Bhuntar, Bajaura, Katrain and Patlikuhl, would have laughed it off as a joke had they been told that one day they would need fans to get a comfortable night’s sleep.

Dr R K Sood, joint member-secretary in the Himachal Pradesh State Council for Science Technology and Environment , says no one finds that funny anymore. According to Sood, global warming is just one aspect of the problem; largescale construction, rapid increase in the number of vehicles and population growth have compounded the problem.

“Deforestation has reduced green cover in the hills. This, in turn, has resulted in a rise in temperatures. The situation will only worsen as global warming will melt glaciers, which are the main source of natural irrigation in the region, and lead to a droughtlike situation soon,” says Dr S S Samant, scientist-in-charge at G B Pant Institute. Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University, Palampur, released a report recently, which says that in about 30 years from now, growing apples may not be possible in the traditional Himalayan belt of Kinnaur, Shimla and Kullu districts.

nior scientist G C Kuniyal says, “In 1965, the apple belt was found at a height of 1,000 metres above sea level. Now, it’s 2,000 metres. Apple orchards, which were abundant in Bajaura (1,000 metres) until some years back, can now be found only in Katrain (2,000 metres) near Manali.”

As Dr Tej Partap Singh Thakur, vice-chancellor at Palam pur University, says, “Farmers are shifting from apples, which used to pump Rs 1,700 crore into the local economy, to other crops. And it’s not just apples that are in danger.”