'Environmental degradation resulting in increasing incidents of landslides'

Sringeri, NT Bureau: Environmentalist and author Dr Kalkuli Vittal Hegde, who is spearheading the environmental movement in the Malnad areas in Karnataka, has said unscientific methods of development and scant respect for structural integrity of hills were among reasons for incidents of landslides in Shiroor and Wayanad recently.

He also expressed concern over the increase in landslides and erratic rainfall in the Western Ghats at a press conference here on Tuesday.

"Too much use of fossil fuels and irresponsible development models have resulted in a great degree of topsoil erosion on both sides of the Western Ghats, which is a barometer of the environmental health of the Southern Peninsular region," he said.

Hegde is the first environmental expert on the Malnad regions (hilly terrain) of the southern peninsular region, to collect rain related statistics from 1895 to 2020 and beyond until the current monsoon.

"We were already warned by unexplained occurrences of cyclones even on the western seaboard of the Arabian Sea since 2020. But we chose to ignore the signals, and now we have enough and more rain than the typical monsoons every alternative year and the increase of volumes of rain in certain areas like Kodagu, Wayanad, the coastal region, and the slopes of Western Ghats on the western region is fearsome."