Interlinking of Rivers in India and Elsewhere

Background

The Global Greens are aware that the Government of India has an ambitious proposal to interlink its several rivers and that the Supreme Court of India has also endorsed the proposal and in fact has asked the Government of India to expedite the process and work on the ambitious project.

Resolution

1. The Global Greens is of the view that it is futile to put money and natural resources into a project that will not be viable in any sense of the word. The perennial flows of these rivers are already threatened and they are proposed to be interlinked with rivers with less or no water.
2. As the proposal of the Government of India is in direct conflict with the ecology and environment and hugely disastrous in the long run, the Global Greens, therefore, call on the Government of India not to go ahead with this proposal because the interlinking of rivers will:  cause irreparable harm to the biodiversity and ecology of India; displace millions of people particularly the indigenous and other marginalised communities, and lead to an exodus of people from the affected areas to other places; and require natural resources at a colossal scale to build this ambitious project causing further damage to the ecology. The large-scale migration of people will also put pressure on the resources of the urban areas that are already overstressed and overstretched.
3. The Global Greens also oppose such proposals elsewhere in the world.