Subject: Indus Orphans


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THE INDUS ORPHANS
A.M.H.Kango

" Development should be centered on human beings. Because an 
individual's well-being is multifaceted, a multidimensional approach 
to development is essential. Therefore any formulation of strategies, 
policies and national, regional and international actions has to be 
based on an integrated and comprehensive approach" - New approaches 
to development (UN Briefing Papers `The World Conferences: 
Development Priorities for the 21st Century.

The global concerns

The world is seized with environmental problems faced by the global 
community. The major ones relate to depletion of Ozone layer, global 
warming and resource exploitation. The Agenda 21, a comprehensive 
programme of action for global action in all the areas of sustainable 
development, addressed economic areas ( combating poverty, changing 
patterns of production and consumption and demographic dynamics) and 
conserving and managing the natural resources (protecting the 
atmosphere, oceans and biodiversity, preventing deforestation and 
promoting sustainable agriculture). Rio Declaration on Environment 
and Development supports Agenda 21 by defining the rights and 
responsibilities of the states regarding these issues. Main emphasis 
is on the entitlement of human beings to a healthy and productive 
life in harmony with nature. Statement of Forest Principles, a non-
legal binding statement of principles for the sustainable management 
of forests, makes it a moral responsibility of the developed 
countries to `green the world' through reforestation and conservation.

UN Follow-up

The Earth Summit succeeded in presenting new perspective on economic 
progress. Though widely acclaimed  it entailed reservations about its 
implementation due to financial constraints. Achieving sustainable 
development worldwide depends on changing patterns of production and 
consumption, impact on developing countries and UN effectiveness in 
conflict resolution. WTO or UNEP are main actors to draw a line 
between commerce and environment. The human being does not figure 
anywhere and this trend is finding more acceptance in the South.

Though the so called development of the west has been the main cause 
of environmental deterioration, the burden for correction was rested 
on all the countries. The countries of the south where population 
pressure is high and gross national product too low were not able to 
fulfill their commitments. The Global Environmental Facility (GEF) 
which was set in 1991 promptly took over responsibility to fund 
activities aimed at achieving global environmental benefits in four 
areas: climate change, loss of biodiversity, protection of 
international waters and the depletion of Ozone layer. Five years 
after Rio, the answers to meeting the goals continue to be negative. 
And Pakistan is no exception.

Pakistan scenario

Agriculture is the main stay of Pakistan's economy and the water is 
its crucial input. Since creation of Pakistan many hydrological and 
morphological changes have taken place due to division and diversions 
of Indus waters between new born states of India and Pakistan, the 
states within Pakistan. As much as eight link canals were constructed 
to transfer water from Indus to meet deficit of the eastern rivers 
now in use by India. The inter-provincial water distribution 
continued to be made on adhoc basis till a water accord was reached 
in early nineties. This accord resulted in great loss of biodiversity 
and adversely affected the economy of delta people.

Harsh decisions and wicked choices

The Indus delta presents a unique situation in the world of 
environment and to understand this one has to travel back in history. 
The Indus Basin is seat of the oldest civilization in the world. The 
people were prosperous, well educated and deeply lost in their glory. 
The mighty Indus sustained this civilization through the ages, till 
the history turned a new page in sixteenth century with burning of 
Thatta a large port city and a great seat of learning by the 
Portuguese pirates, who instead of spices and gold found intellect 
and education, the commodities they were not willing to take back to 
Europe. The Indus is a meandering river and has continued to move 
westwards specially in its lower reaches. It was the only inland 
waterway that connected Larkana, Sukkur, Multan, D.I.Khan and even 
Lahore with the outside World.

Shah Bandar (Bandar means Port) was a flourishing centre of trade and 
commerce at the very mouth of Indus. There are plans to revive this 
port. There is a question mark as to the sincerity of purpose. Many 
think it is an eye wash. A study conducted by Pakistan Council for 
Research in Water Resources about the navigation on Indus supported 
possibility of inland transport on these water ways. The success of 
Shah Bunder as sea port will again depend upon availability of  water 
to provide sufficient depth for passage of ships. The mighty Indus 
has already deposited enough silt to create a shelf extending into 
sea for many miles. 

The Lower Indus Basin is distinctly separated from its northern part, 
and has different physical characteristics. The people lived along 
the river and its branches (locally called `naro') and thrived on its 
bounties: trade, fish catch and fertile agricultural belt depending 
on inundation. The British forced migration of militant people from 
Punjab and settled them along the eastern naro, a branch of main 
river and a river by itself, in 1901. Sukkur Barrage was constructed 
in 1932 and more settlers were brought in. This increased the 
population pressure and brought a social change. Larkana, Eden of 
Sindh, was totally disconnected with main line of river communication 
and suffered the most. The west of Indus throughout its course has 
thus remained backward and under developed till today.

After partition, more water began to be withdrawn from the Indus in 
upper reaches. The construction of Kotri Barrage and Kotri Barrage 
confined the natural habitats of the Blind Dolphin and the Indus 
Salmon. The coastal areas dried up and salt intrusion deprived the 
population of safe drinking water. The natural habitat of shrimps in 
sprawling mangroves is becoming a part of history.

The Dolphin

Owais Tohid  in his article ` Blind dolphin on verge of extinction in 
Pakistan' (reported in Green Press Newsletter No. 54) indicates that 
the endangered blind dolphin in Pakistan's Indus river is on the 
verge of extinction under the threat of environmental degradation and 
fishermen who believe its oil can impart sexual strength.        

Excessive hunting of the blind dolphin, whose habitat used to stretch 
over 2,800 kilometers (1,750 miles) covered by the mighty  Indus 
river, has forced the marine mammal into a 170-kilometer (106-mile) 
section of the river between the Sukkur and Guddu dams.   Although 
the stretch of water has been declared a dolphin reserve, wildlife 
conservationists fear the blind dolphin may be facing its last years 
before being driven to extinction. According to an estimate, there 
are only around 400 blind dolphins all over the world and all of them 
are found in the Indus River.      

Water pollution, a general decline in their habitat, including the 
construction of dams, are contributing factors to the demise of the 
species. Pollution of the Indus river is a great threat to the 
Dolphin Reserve area, especially since dolphins are mainly restricted 
in this reserve due to construction of barrages.

Richard Garstang, a consultant working with IUCN, has expressed a 
concern that the most serious and immediate threat to the survival of 
the Indus River Dolphin is genetic deterioration.  The remaining 
population is isolated into two, possibly three, segments so we are 
not dealing with one large population of 600 or so, but  several 
smaller ones.  There have been some stark recent examples of  what 
can go wrong once genetic problems set in.  The Black Rhinoceros is a 
good (bad) example. After a recent evaluation of the Indus River 
Dolphin's predicament he came to the conclusion that with no finite 
or reliable demographic data available for the Indus Dolphin, no 
genetic baseline studies and a general environmental  trend that will 
progressively isolate surviving dolphin communities and thrust them 
into an ever-increasing cycle of exposure to pollution, human 
activities and development, it must be concluded that the Indus 
Dolphin is at severe risk.  A population crash in any of the larger 
remnant populations for any of the above mentioned  reasons could 
force the species into a rapid decline and extinction.

 According to Tahir Wadood Malik, who in 1973/74  was working in and 
around Kashmore, where Guddu Barrage is located, and saw the blind 
dolphin, it was a playful animal/mammal? and would come upto the boat 
to see if we would throw some tit-bit to it, the fishermen would hunt 
it, for oil, and as it ate the fish, how much, I am sure not enough 
to effect their catch. In 1990, I was in Sukkur, and it was difficult 
to see a dolphin in the back water of the barrage.

The choice between development and environment

 According to Tariq Binori, the main point of  disagreement between 
environmentalists and conventional development  people is that the 
latter think that if something is not being  utilized by human beings 
DIRECTLY, then it is a waste. Environmentalists, on the other hand, 
take these other activities  seriously, and view nature as a 
sophisticated system in which nothing  is wasted. If you take 
something away from a particular use, it will have costs-- to nature 
in the first instance (if it was being used  primarily for sustaining 
the ecosystem) and to humans ultimately.  There are very difficult 
choices to be made.

 The economic benefit at social costs

Much advocacy has appeared about the protection of Blind Dolphin of 
the Indus. The dolphin is no doubt on the verge of extinction if 
corrective measures are not taken early. So is the case with green 
turtle, the salmon and the shrimp. By impounding water upwards, more 
benefits will accrue to the people of those areas, electricity would 
be generated, industries will flourish and more area would be brought 
under the plough and so on. Assuming that the dolphin, the salmon, 
the shrimp, the mangrove, etc. are of no consequence as compared to 
people in upper reaches, then what is the crime of deltaic people to 
suffer for the comforts of their fellow human beings else where. Only 
if realization came that the deltaic people are not to be treated as 
orphans, a little generosity shown to them will not be merely an act 
of philanthropy to ensure their participation in development, but a 
means to preserve the exotic species of the delta and the coast, as 
well.

The nature is always in balance

The nature maintains its balance unless the human hand causes a tilt. 
To maintain a watery link between the sea, it was decided that a 
minimum flow of ten thousand cusecs will be maintained down stream 
Kotri Barrage, the last in the network.  This quantity is not set 
aside as a common use, but included in total water availability for 
distribution among the provinces (states). 

As lower repurians, these people have no control over the withdrawals 
upcountry where the demand is fully satisfied before the remainder is 
let to flow down, in contravention of universally accepted principle 
of sharing the waters proportionately. Though the mechanism to ensure 
this exists, its effectiveness is shadowed by high handedness. The 
weaker has to yield and the stronger has no intention to be 
considerate.

The natural balance at creating an enabling environment for economic 
and social development of the Indus Orphans is highly disturbed and 
assertions at  international forums to create such an enabling 
environment for people-centred sustainable development are quickly 
forgotten. The sustainable livelihood of these people is jeopardized 
and the state of their poverty has further aggravated. The UN 
documents stress access to technology and finance; and, this does 
come, its benefits do not filter down and reach these people. The 
ECOSOC subgroup on Macroecomic and Social Framework  chaired by World 
Bank does not identify best practices at micro level to support the 
economy at macro level. The Bank developes standards on  modes of 
Service Delivery and issues priced publications. The task is 
considered to be complete and the reports adorn the shelves. 

Participation and Partnership

The United Nations and the World Bank do consult the inter-
governmental bodies, national governments and the NGOs around the 
World. But they consult the wrong quarters. One NGO from Pakistan 
which represented Asian region on World Bank-NGO Global Committee for 
six years is reported to have not held any consultations with the 
NGOs of the region it represented. It's commitment was also said to 
be not known to the government, NGOs and people of the country! 
Pakistan's representation at World Forums is also said to be 
entrusted to people who manage a change of climate.

The people deserve to be taken into confidence for development of 
plans before `to implement effectively action plans' that make a mark 
on their destiny. There is need to reiterate call for genuine 
partnership partnership. The access to the targeted population as 
essential to the broadbased changes that are required for poverty 
eradication and provision of basis social services.

The Indus Orphans need no sympathies but want back up support and 
strength through sincere participation and partnership of those who 
matter; to discourage the elements that with every rising sun plan to 
rob them of basis tools of production, and water is most crucial to 
keep blood running in their veins.
 
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