Vanishing Spaces

As the debate over climate change gets thicker, and the impact travels to deeper spaces, it is crucial for the government to undertake a comprehensive audit of the green spaces available in the length and breadth of J&K. Pertinent to mention, this audit should make a comparative study of last few decades to establish the pattern of disappearance, as far as the green spaces are concerned. We know that how traditional urban and rural areas had ample green spaces.

These spaces would contribute to a clean atmosphere besides managing drainage from the households. These spaces would also act as open ground for sporting activities. That way such spaces delivered multiple functions – environmental, societal and recreational. But with the disappearance of such spaces we are now faced with multiple crises.

One, our green cover in the internal spaces has significantly reduced, if not totally gone. Two, we have no spaces where our children and youth could play in the vicinity of their homes. Third, we have absolutely no spaces for our elderly and womenfolk outside homes where they could socialise. The absence of such collective spaces is bringing stress to our environment and also the the humans living here.

As an act of responsibility the government must create such spaces. In order to do that, it important that an audit is carried out as to how many such spaces are still available. Also, how many spaces have disappeared and the reasons for the same. When a pattern is found, the government can bring in an effective policy to safeguard the spaces that are now present, and also work for creating more such spaces. It can also bring in a policy on how we can use the available spaces efficiently, so that more people can use it.

The concerned government departments can also draw form more populated cities and towns of the world, how the governments there have been able to create and safeguard such spaces. In a world that is now driven by artificiality, it is important to find some human spaces where interaction are pure and unnumbered. That will destress humans as well as the environment they live in.