DIAMER BHASHA DAM construction is fear to Gilgit environment

DIAMER BHASHA DAM construction is fear to Gilgit environment

In May, CPEC Chairman Asim Saleem Bajwa announced that Pakistan had begun constructing the Diamer Bhasha dam to place an end to the country’s water woes. However, top environmentalists in Gilgit-Baltistan believe that the dam’s construction has more cons than pros.

Speaking to The Third Pole, Gilgit-Baltistan Environmental Protection Agency Director Shehzad Shigri said the creation of the reservoir will have a devastating impact on the climate within the region.

“Around 0.1 billion cubic meters of water will evaporate per annum from the reservoir [if the dam is constructed]. this might change the climate and weather patterns within the region,” Shigri said.

He believes the dam will divide communities on each side of the Indus and displace 50,000 residents.

The government aims to create a dam near the Nanga Parbat peak. it'll stand 272 meters above the Indus, being one among the very best dams within the world, if made.

Former judge Mian Saqib Nisar was one among the prominent personalities to possess shed the sunshine on the creation of the dam. He and PM Imran Khan found it the only solution to the country’s water scarcity issue.

But some climate experts think it’s not worthwhile. Aisha Khan, the chief executive of the Civil Society Collation for global climate change, is one among them.

She feels that rising temperatures will accelerate the melting of Himalayan glaciers and a big amount of water is going to be drained within the next 30 years.

The expert said the answer doesn’t dwell new dams but in improved water management and cropping patterns.

Similarly, environmentalist Simi Kamal thinks that the time for building new dams has passed. She’s the chairperson of the Hisar Foundation that builds consensus on water policy.

“We need to plug the leakages and learn to measure with global climate change,” Kamal said.“I don’t think this is often the proper time to create a replacement dam which too during a seismically active zone when Pakistan has no money.”