The one word used repeatedly to describe several natural events across the world this year has been “unprecedented”. And it is no different for rains and subsequent floods. Be it Assam and Kerala in India, neighbours China, Bangladesh and Nepal or far away Africa and the U.S., the quantum of rain dumped so far has been unheard of, resulting in floods and landslides. And it did not help that these rains have come in the midst of the pandemic, rendering a twin blow to the people. According to new reports, monsoon rains this season have affected about 10 million people in South Asia alone, and this includes 1.3 million in Assam. In September, large areas of Africa witnessed rains with intensity not recorded earlier. In mere seven hours, Senegal recorded an amount of rain that usually takes an entire rainy season from July to September! Such a crisis causes loss of not just human lives but also of wildlife. Assam’s Kaziranga National Park lost more than a 100 wild animals, including about a dozen endangered one-horned rhinoceros in the recent floods. Rains and floods also damage or change landscapes permanently, in the process shrinking or destroying wildlife habitats and causing ecological imbalance. Experts point out that extreme weather event could be a result of human-induced climate change. This change is so swift and continuous that it does not allow for nature to heal or recover, threatening to trigger irrevocable consequences for the entire planet and all of its inhabitants.
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This July, a few residents of Assam were greeted by an unusual visitor or two – one-horned rhinoceros (occasionally with a little one in tow) escaping Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, about 90% of it flooded by the swelling Brahmaputra. The sanctuary has the distinction of nurturing the highest density of rhinos in the world. But it also means these pachyderms jostle for space. And floods certainly don’t help. So the fortunate and smart among the lot moved to the fingers of the sanctuary and made themselves comfortable at the houses there – rent-free! While some residents were thrilled, some weren’t. However, no instances of human-animal conflict were reported.
Picture Credit : Google