Srinagar, July 8 -- How many more disasters will it take before Jammu and Kashmir calls this what it is: a climate emergency?

Fresh cloudbursts in the Chenab Valley, the rapid melting of the Amarnath ice lingam, mountains of untreated waste and relentless riverbed mining may seem like separate crises.

But they are all part of the same story.

Rising temperatures, weak environmental governance and years of ecological damage have combined to push Kashmir's natural systems to a dangerous point.

Government agencies still treat these as isolated incidents instead of one environmental crisis demanding a coordinated response.

Chenab Valley has delivered the latest evidence.

Last year's cloudburst in Chisoti village in Kishtwar district kill...