Soma Aslam
As Kashmir dispute is an indigenous movement and the resilience of local Kashmiri people against hostile and barbaric Indian occupation. The people of Kashmir have been facing all types of human rights violations and they are in a continuous state of struggle and resistance. With the changing global order and with the transforming geopolitical, geostrategic, and geo-economic shifts the position of the conflict in the international community is also facing many new trends. The environmental crisis and climate change are one of the most important phenomena of changing world dynamics. The conflict zones have been facing many crises. Moreover, facing and bearing up consequences of the environmental and climate change is one of them. The climatic change not only impactsthe natural ecosystem and environmental condition rather it will impact and make masses of the territory suffer more. The melting glaciers of Jammu and Kashmir, deforestation, rising temperature, and perils of drastic floods will be going to impact the whole of the South Asian region at a broader level. In the contemporary era of globalization and complex interdependence traditional and nontraditional security threats have gained equal status. William Bernstein in his book ‘The Birth of Plenty’ explained that the 1820s is considered an era of the peak of the industrial revolution and after the 1950’s rapid economic acceleration took place. These two eras led to the emergence of non-conventional security threats and climate change is one of them. Rapid industrialization and urbanization led to global warming and the greenhouse effect. As a result of this international politics of environment got introduced in the academics of international relations. Many environmental scholars and advocators of green peace theory explained that traditional approaches in IR are completely anthropocentric and there must be a shift from anthropocentrism towards eco-centrism because overall security of planet earth is mandatory. Moreover, there are traditional and nontraditional security threats that have been impacting global politics. In the case of the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir, two nuclear power states Pakistan and India had fought three wars, and any miscalculation could leadto armed conflict or deteriorate the situation by using nuclear armament. Hence this is a traditional threat. And traditional threats also led to nontraditional threats and impactedthe environment in a calamitous manner. For Instance,the usage of nuclear weapons has a drastic environmental impact. In addition to this, the Kashmir region is home to 120 -150 glaciers but due to human interference and tension, they are melting.It has led to a recession in glaciers because there has been a lot of human interference. Furthermore, 120-150 glaciers are mapped in the Kashmir region and they were reduced by 28.82% from 1980 to 2018. Glacier loss is much higher in Jammu and Kashmir as compared to other Himalayan regions. Steadily decreasing forest cover in Kashmir, a result of illegal logging operations and human encroachments into the forest, is a direct cause of deforestation. Kashmir’s dense forest area has also shrunk considerably, from 37% of its total area to 11%. The risks stemming from the relationship between existing conflicts and climate change, the case of flooding in the Indian Jammu and Kashmir state in September 2014 show that the floods brought significant damage to the lives of the residents of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. At least 1.2 million people were directly affected, and approximately 300 people died or remain missing due to this flooding. This Himalayas area possesses a complex terrain, massive glaciers, and glacial lakes. It has experienced trends of warming air temperatures and vulnerabilities of highland ecosystems and biodiversity. The Himalayas are a freshwater source that shapes the hydrologic characteristics of the Indus River and bear socioeconomic impact. From these perspectives, multiple experts in geology have reported about the Kashmir Himalayas as a hotspot for climate change risks. In the 2014 floods, the international community didn’t participate in providing facilitation to suffering Kashmiris because of the disputed status of the territory. In addition, how the international meeting of the G20 summit could take place in the disputed territory? The people of conflict zones like Kashmir are about to face more drastic and tragic consequences of climate change. After the BJP government, India became a revisionist and expansionist state in order to gain hegemony and spread Hindutva discourse. The illegitimate unilateral decisions, abrogation of article 370 and 35A, demographic changes, settler colonial project, and fake normalcy reflects the state-centric approach of India. The rising capabilities of India and defense expenditures reflect its anthropocentric concerns. Such developments could generate new channels for the escalation of conflict. Instead of taking these hostile actions, India should show responsibility for the perils of climate change and the uprising sufferings of Kashmiris as a result of illegitimate actions and climate change. Contemporary prospects of militarization and extremist practices explicitly determine the new challenges for native Kashmiris to survive in their own native land. Conflict zones could further exacerbate the existing challenges of environmental crisis.
