: Hydropower projects are leading to the loss of endangered chilgoza trees in Himachal Pradesh #IndiaNEWS India’s growing energy requirements have made Kinnaur a major hub of hydro projects in Himachal

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Hydropower projects are leading to the loss of endangered chilgoza trees in Himachal Pradesh #IndiaNEWS
India’s growing energy requirements have made Kinnaur a major hub of hydro projects in Himachal Pradesh, particularly over the past two to three decades. As a result, there has been a large-scale diversion of forest land and cutting of trees, including chilgoza pine trees, for the construction of dams.Chilgoza pine (Pinus gerardiana), called the champion of high mountains, has grown and survived for centuries on high slopes, inaccessible and difficult terrains. The International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2011 categorised chilgoza tree as near threatened as they continue to decline throughout their range, with an estimated decline of close to 30%. In India, these trees are mainly concentrated in the Kinnaur district and are important cash crops here.Jangram valley of Kinnaur district has the highest concentration of chilgoza trees in the country. In 2018, the state government gave the approval to set up the 804-megawatt Jangi-Thopan Powari Hydro Electric Project, which has become a major point of discontentment among the locals with campaigns protesting against hydel projects in their area.Recently, all the six gram panchayats affected by this project summoned gram sabhas and passed a resolution to reject permission for the project, which, as per the initial project report will take over 350 acres of forest land.Jiya Lal, convenor of...Read more

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