A policy approach for sustainable governance of sand mining activities in NW Kashmir Himalayas

Abstract

Sustainability in river bed mining is emerging as a sensible yet unexplored area of research. This study assessed the socio-economic and environmental implications of mining operations in the River Jhelum of North-Western Kashmir Himalaya. To achieve the objectives of the study, surveys, focal group discussions, and questionnaires were used. Further, the high-resolution Google Earth imagery was used to monitor the distribution of mining boats correlated with extensive field-based surveys along a stretch of 150 km of Jhelum River. Manual counting from satellite data depicted that 2976 mining boats are currently operating in river Jhelum from the stretch between Khanabal to Boniyar involving manpower of about 17856 persons. The results indicated that ∼2273662.74 metric tonnes of sand are extracted from river Jhelum annually. Socio-economic analysis revealed that sand mining serves as a source of livelihood to ∼20000 families. Surveys and visual observations at mining sites revealed that the rampant riparian zone and mushrooming of in-stream mining activities have impacted river health causing erosion of river banks, flood plains, and pollution of the river ecosystem. This study offers a policy approach for sustainable governance of sand mining activities that pledge environmental protection with minimum regulatory costs and high levels of public cooperation.