On the occasion of World Environment Day on June 5, Hindustan Times spoke to Deepak Apte of the Srushti Conservation Foundation to shine a light on a few pressing environmental issues faced by Mumbai. Apte is a marine biologist, conservation expert, former director of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), a former member of the State Wildlife Board and also serves as a Chairman on the union environment ministry’s expert appraisal committee for coastal regulation zone (CRZ) and Infrastructure, Ports and National Highways matters.
Q1) In your career as an ecologist working in and around Mumbai, has the city become any better at balancing the needs of the environment with public demand for development and infrastructure? Would you say that adequate environmental considerations have been made with projects like the Coastal Road, underground tunnels through SGNP or the MTHL?
A: For a city like Mumbai, which is so crowded and has very limited growth options due to its promontorial layout, the priority for the government is and will always be developing and providing services to citizens. For most of the citizens, who live below the poverty line, the environment is a minor issue, though they may be the biggest victims of environmental degradations. They need adequate roads and public transport to run their livelihoods, and coastal roads, sea links and tunnels are the only viable options. There is nothing wrong with them. Every single project will have an ecological footprint, and governments need to have a balanced approach when planning, to reduce it. We must not forget that nature and biodiversity have an inherent, absolute value, and for this reason, some projects should be struck down, but a majority of development works can be undertaken with abundant precaution.
Q2) Over the last year, the state government has made significant efforts to bring more and more mangrove areas under the purview of the forest department, and under the purview of the Forest Act and Forest Conservation Act. What are the next steps in mangrove conservation that the state needs to take up?
A: There is no question about the value of mangroves in ecological protection. To prevent encroachments on mangroves, you need an iron hand, because many of them are planned executed in organised fashion. The larger issue which we need to look at next is degradation of coastal agriculture lands due to sea level rise and increasing and expanding mangroves on such lands. Several hundreds of hectares of prime agricultural land are being taken over by mangroves across coastal districts of Maharashtra due to sea level rise, and because water carrying capacity of creeks is increasing due to rampant sand mining, more and more intrusion of saline water is happening across productive agriculture lands. We are going to face a major conflict with local agarian community because these new mangroves will come under protection of the Forest Acts, and many private landholders will be disadvantaged for no fault of theirs. We need to work ahead of time to deal with this emerging conflict issue.
Q3) Despite being an economic nerve centre, the urban landscape of Mumbai continues to support a wide range of biodiversity. Leopards and flamingos, in particular, have become icons for Mumbai. Are you worried about the future survival of these species in Mumbai?
The very fact that these species are able to thrive in Mumbai is a testament to their resilience. We have more than 1,50,000 flamingoes visiting Thane Creek every year not because these are great mudflats but because these mudflats are super rich in food due to warm water from refinaries and power plants and disposal of untreated sewage that fuel rich benthos on which these birds feed. But the one issue no one is talking about is pollution mitigation measures. We have to upgrade our effluent treatment plants to control the pollution of the creek so that we don’t continue to poison the birds. We also need to actively maintain the habitat, which involves removing fresh growth of mangroves from mudlflats on which these birds feed. With leopards, we need to have an education and tolerance driven approach. An outright solution to human-animal conflict is impossible in Mumbai. Citizens also need to learn to live having leopards in their own backyard.
Q4) The BMC this year unveiled its ambitious Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP), which is the city’s blueprint toward a climate-resilient future. Do you think the MCAP is an efficient guiding document for the city?
A: It is a courageous decision to make such a document for the city. We may not be able to achieve all it sets out to do, but if we can achieve even a third of the goals, it will set a very positive precedent. The only concern is the government’s reliance on electric vehicles as a viable alternative to traditional fuel. We do not have the capacity in India to dispose of lithium-ion batteries. EVs will also heavily exploit natural resources for lithium, and the burden will be shifted from oil-rich to forest-rich countries. Of course, new technocratic solutions are coming, like hydrogen derived power, but we will have to be aware of the flipside that this solution may present.