By Salam Rajesh
The Hindu Kush Himalaya is as vulnerable as any other natural landscape around the world in terms of severe impacts from the three planetary crises – global warming, climate change and extreme weather events.
Rising global temperature in recent years is accounted for accelerated glacial melts, and like the Alps Mountains and the Glacial sheets of the Arctic Circle, the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) is reported with the worst news that its frozen ice caps are melting rapidly, a worry that could impact millions of people in the HKH region in the very near future.
The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is precariously situated amongst the fragile snow-capped frontiers of India and Tibet, and is sandwiched between the two giants – India and China. Melting glaciers is an expressed worry for this mountain nation state, and there are reports of rapid formation of glacial lakes in its eastern parts, ready to burst in utter fury at any given moment.
The glacial retreats and other changing geophysical characters in its natural landscape are threatening one very important aspect in human life – water security. Climate change implications and human-induced activities are said to be primarily influencing steady decline in its main sources of potable water – the natural springs.
A recent visit to this secluded Himalayan mountain kingdom to understand how the mountain people there are coping with the issue amply reflected their primary philosophic aptitude to life – that man needs to exist in sync with nature.
This very aspect is significantly displayed in the way how the Bhutanese people had adjusted their lives in deep respect of nature, a refreshing discovery for anyone having the energy and enthusiasm to trek 3,210 meters up steep slopes to the fabulous Tiger Nest, a synonym for the seventeenth century Buddhist monastery of Paro Taktsang.
Paro is the second important peri-commercial hub in Bhutan, next to its capital city of Thimphu. Paro Taktsang is located barely eight kilometers from Paro city, but the real test is the two and a half hour’s hard climb up the steep slopes to the Tiger Nest.
The monastery is the abode of peace and tranquility in a setting that is naturally surrounded by dense temperate and sub-tropical old growth forests, amidst the scary hard-rock topped ninety degree inclining cliffs.
This writer did wonder how in the world had the Buddhist monks built the majestically-placed monastery perched amongst ninety degree stiff cliffs in the very first place, and how do they manage their food and water supply.
The back-aching climb up the steep slopes to the monastery was as similar as trekking up the tasking stone-steps up to the fabulous Shirui Kashung peak in Manipur’s Ukhrul District, fairly similar to the landscape and the natural vegetation. Shirui Kashung landscape is also capped with temperate old growth trees including the attractive Rhododendron arboreum – the Himalayan mountain flower.
The respect of nature is the mantra for the Buddhist monks living in Paro Taktsang. They live amidst the serenity of the natural landscape punctuated with springs, aquifers, mountain streams, and a beautiful straight-drop waterfall right at the proximity of the monastery.
The protection and conservation of the old growth forest understandably protects the springshed within which several natural springs can be seen. The interesting aspect was the respect of the springs as fountains of life, and the very water of these springs are considered the elixir of life – pure and life-giving.
Offering prayers at the monastery culminates with partaking of the pure, crystal clear water from the natural springs of Paro Taktsang, symbolic of the essence of consuming purity straight out of nature itself – ice cold and truly refreshing.
Salam Rajesh
The water from the spring sources are tapped and transported downhill through poly-pipes that are inter-linked to traditional water reservoirs reminiscent of the symbolic Buddhist shrines. The run-of-the-water flow also turns the Buddhist worship drums installed inside these reservoirs.
The worship drums are normally turned by hands while reciting hymns by the devotees. In this case, the drums are continuously turned by the water flow, thus symbolizing the continuous offering of prayer by the devotees.
The water flow from these traditional reservoirs is directed along regulated course further downhill to the river valley housing the city of Paro, feeding a continuous supply of potable water without having to wait for supply from government-regulated stocks as in Imphal (where regular supply of potable water is assumed as ‘mission impossible’).
There are two underlying and significant aspects to the springshed management, water conservation and respect of nature as at Paro Taktsang. First, it addresses the basic principles of climate change adaptation strategies at the local context while also serving the objective of climate mitigation in a given natural landscape.
The value of Paro Taktsang as a good carbon sink is truly perceivable. The entire landscape could be capped as carbon-negative in a very positive sense, which is actually why Bhutan is termed as the only “carbon-negative nation in the world”.
With worries on the escalating instances of glacial melts over the ever increasing global temperature, it is exceedingly essential to protect natural landscapes as at Paro Taktsang. Manipur can also stepped in equally with intensified conservation measures of the Shirui Kashung mountain landscape as much as is being attempted with Longku forest at Dailong village in Tamenglong District.
Manipur’s real-time experience is with large scale, random and unregulated felling of trees everywhere, of which the mountain landscape of Mount Koubru is the picture of total disaster. Slash and burn rotational agriculture, enhanced by the fervor with illegal poppy cultivation, perhaps is destroying the State’s natural resources.
The State of Manipur, and its people, can take a leaf out of Bhutan’s perseverance and the absolute respect of nature to restore and regain the natural health of the State’s forest cover and natural landscapes, and in doing so, to revive the springsheds that nourish the State’s life-feeding rivers.
It needs not be re-emphasized here that Manipur’s rivers are steadily losing their environmental flows, thereby threatening the water security for the people and undermining the loss of biological diversity that sustains life and livelihoods. Lessons learnt from the springshed management at Paro Taktsang can be an eye-opener for the State (and its public administrators).
