Impact on the ecology

Impact on the ecology:

Who cares about it?  

Uncared development of disasters 

Massive construction means environmental disturbance. We have seen the leveling of hills and the filling of lowlands to build “beautiful” residential colonies. What is beauty in them contrarily is only an impending disaster. Why is the government shy of regulating such activities to protect the environment? In the normal course, the impact is not ascertainable until a flood washes away everything. Though there are regulatory authorities to issue permission for land development, restrictions are only delusionary for influential real estate developers to find their way with their project plans. The government should take some more effective steps and tighten the control over reckless real estate development.

At the same time when demands for apartments or commercial buildings rise due to population growth and economic boom, the government also needs to ensure that the building projects are sustainable and that the resources are exploited to a limited extent.

Nowadays, if someone has land and influence to arrange investments, they can easily get approval to build a hotel, an apartment building, a shopping mall, or any other type of real estate development. Whatever project they desire they can easily execute it. They make it happen because of their political and bureaucratic connections, capital and muscle power to quell public objections.

Laymen are not bothered about the alternation of the landscape seeing it as development activities. No one thinks about how much damage such unregulated and reckless construction renders on the earth and puts pressure on other resources. There is no system in place to ascertain the aggregate damage these constructions leave behind. The environmental impact of these projects is rarely taken into account, and the long-term consequences of unsustainable development are often ignored. Such projects leave behind the inexplicable ecological disaster, besides deforestation, pollution, and disruption of natural habitats.

The development will only degrade land with chemicals and cement, resulting in a negative impact not only on the ecosystem but also on the people who rely on it for their livelihood. Further, it leaves a gap between rich and poor since land development destroys the lifetime livelihood of the displaced habitats, who cannot live for generations with the compensation of the land acquisition. The displacement of local communities is the biggest socio-economic disaster as they don’t get a stake in the local trades, which also become the migrants’ domain, as we see in large urban centres. 

After disregarding the environmental and socio-economic impacts real estate developers wait for the higher price out of their greed. They know none would impose control over their development and pricing of the units. Everyone looks at the development and no one minds the long-term ecological sustainability.

This short-sightedness not only shows a lack of respect for the environment and concern over livelihoods. Ultimately, liberal and hasty permission for real estate development leads to building an economic system that ignores social justice and environmental concerns. Therefore, we need a system that does not permit the rash development of lands throwing habitats into poverty by making the developers superrich with the support of their political godfathers. There is an urgent need for more stringent regulations and enforcement to ensure that developers are held accountable for their actions.

What people may miss from the beautiful development picture drawn by the real estate developers is the risk of depleting natural resources and loss of natives’ livelihood. Buyers may not be able to make a good financial return on their ‘investment’ if they plan to stay in these places. Each unit can only be a living necessity, which is built on sleeping disasters.