Page 244 - AWSAR 2.0

220 || AWSAR Awarded Popular Science Stories - 2019
Rekindling Forgotten Ecological Principles: When an Undammed River Taught a Lesson!
Ms. Aashna Sharma*
Email: aashna.wildlife@gmail.com
Natural history records and observations seem to be losing impetus in the modern “applied science” era, which
demands empirical evidence. In a strive to obtain statistically sound results, researchers of the present century are plunging into an ocean of complexities, missing out on basic yet important ecological observations. The necessity of partaking such researches is crucial to wildlife science, where phenomena cannot be understood by mere statistics, unless backed by strong field observations.
Such a research was recently conducted and a scientific paper on the same topic was published by our team at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, which highlighted nature’s governance in restoring some rare “undammed” river systems of Himalayas.
Inaccessibility is often deemed to be the reason for inadequately explored high-altitude Himalayan rivers, the biodiversity of which yet remains unaccounted for. Ironically, however, most of these rivers have been profoundly explored by the human race for hydropower generation! Bound by River Indus in the west and Brahmaputra in the east, the core Himalaya drains three major rivers basins, Ganga is the holiest according to Hindu scriptures. This river is drained by many tributaries aiding in its sustained flow. However, most of its stretch, in the high altitude, is dammed to tap its hydropower potential. River Asiganga, a tributary of Ganga, also has multiple dams planned on it, none of which have thankfully been built yet, leading to a continuous natural flow. This river, which emerges from Dodital,
* Ms. Aashna Sharma, PhD Scholar from Panjab University, Chandigarh, is pursuing her research on “The Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Response and Interaction of Native and Non-Native Trout Populations in Selected Riverscapes of Indian Himalayan Region”. Her popular science story entitled “Rekindling Forgotten Ecological Principles: When an Undammed River Taught a Lesson!” has been selected for AWSAR Award.