Stripping Riverbeds of Rocks Heightens Mudslide Risk
Stripping Riverbeds of Rocks Heightens Mudslide Risk
Rock and gravel is being excavated illegally from Tajikistan’s rivers for use in the construction industry, heightening the risk of mudslides. NBCentralAsia environmental observers say people must be made aware of the dangerous effects of uncontrolled excavation.
On July 17, Habibullo Sobirov of the Soghd regional administration’s environmental department told the Varorud news agency that so much gravel has been removed from riverbeds in several districts that the mudslide barriers have been broken down.
Tajikistan is a mountainous country with more than 25,000 rivers, most of which are prone to flooding in the spring during the glacial melt. The excess water causes mudslides every year, some of them so fierce that they wipe out entire villages.
People are illegally removing gravel and rubble rock from mountainsides and riverbeds during the summer and winter, when it is dry, to feed Tajikistan’s booming construction industry. Without a protective layer of rock, the soil is exposed to erosion.
NBCentralAsia ecologists say the authorities must clamp down on lawbreakers and make people aware that taking too much mountain rock and gravel will increase the number and gravity of springtime mudslides.
The head of Dushanbe’s Environmental Protection Committee, Bahrom Mahmadaliev, says it is impossible to police the riverbeds and catch offenders due to staff shortages in the environmental agencies, and the risk of more villages being washed away by mudslides next spring is getting higher.
Svetlana Blagoveschenskaya, an ecology and biology expert working on a European Commission project, agrees, saying that removing gravel, especially from mountainsides, can cause disastrous landslides.
People are continuing to plunder natural resources for building materials even though there are several gravel production factories in Tajikistan, says Abduqodir Maskaev, chief inspector at the government’s land protection and management agency.
“The river loses its bed and the water starts to wash away the banks, causing soil erosion,” he explained.
Observers point out that locals need to be told the dangers of illegal excavation since no one is patrolling the rivers.
“The message needs to be spread to raise awareness about the consequences of such actions, and to improve environmental awareness and behaviour,” said Maskaev.
Timur Idrisov, head of the Radi Zemli (For the Earth) group, blames widespread corruption and the government’s inability to enforce the law for the worsening trend.
“The law lays out solutions to problems like this, but here everything is arranged through friends and relatives,” he said.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
On July 17, Habibullo Sobirov of the Soghd regional administration’s environmental department told the Varorud news agency that so much gravel has been removed from riverbeds in several districts that the mudslide barriers have been broken down.
Tajikistan is a mountainous country with more than 25,000 rivers, most of which are prone to flooding in the spring during the glacial melt. The excess water causes mudslides every year, some of them so fierce that they wipe out entire villages.
People are illegally removing gravel and rubble rock from mountainsides and riverbeds during the summer and winter, when it is dry, to feed Tajikistan’s booming construction industry. Without a protective layer of rock, the soil is exposed to erosion.
NBCentralAsia ecologists say the authorities must clamp down on lawbreakers and make people aware that taking too much mountain rock and gravel will increase the number and gravity of springtime mudslides.
The head of Dushanbe’s Environmental Protection Committee, Bahrom Mahmadaliev, says it is impossible to police the riverbeds and catch offenders due to staff shortages in the environmental agencies, and the risk of more villages being washed away by mudslides next spring is getting higher.
Svetlana Blagoveschenskaya, an ecology and biology expert working on a European Commission project, agrees, saying that removing gravel, especially from mountainsides, can cause disastrous landslides.
People are continuing to plunder natural resources for building materials even though there are several gravel production factories in Tajikistan, says Abduqodir Maskaev, chief inspector at the government’s land protection and management agency.
“The river loses its bed and the water starts to wash away the banks, causing soil erosion,” he explained.
Observers point out that locals need to be told the dangers of illegal excavation since no one is patrolling the rivers.
“The message needs to be spread to raise awareness about the consequences of such actions, and to improve environmental awareness and behaviour,” said Maskaev.
Timur Idrisov, head of the Radi Zemli (For the Earth) group, blames widespread corruption and the government’s inability to enforce the law for the worsening trend.
“The law lays out solutions to problems like this, but here everything is arranged through friends and relatives,” he said.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
