Everest valley: Billions of litres of water released from the rapidly heating Himalayas could devastate villages, farmland and kill millions in Nepal, India and Bangladesh if governments and communities do not take speedy measures to curb emissions of greenhouse gases
Way above us in the Himalayan cloud are jagged, snowbound peaks Annapurna, Damodar, Gangapurna, Dhalguri.
Below us is the Thulagi glacier, a river of ancient ice snaking steeply down the Marshyangdi valley from near the top of Mount Manasulu.
Thulagi's snout is a milk-blue lake marked on few maps. It has doubled in size in just a few years and is held back only by a low wall of dead ice and earth. If Thulagi carries on melting at the present rate, nothing will stop billions of litres of water bursting through this natural dam and devastating villages, farmland and everything below.
Thulagi is one of 20 steadily growing glacial lakes in Nepal which mountain communities and scientists fear will inevitably rupture if the growth in greenhouse gas emissions is not stemmed by world leaders at the Copenhagen climate summit.
Average temperatures across Nepal have risen 1.6 degrees Celsius in 50 years, twice the global average. But here on the roof of the world, they are already nearly four degrees Celsius above normal and on track to rise by as much as eight degrees Celsius by 2050.
Temperature rises like this in the Himalayas would be a catastrophe. It is not just the future of a few mountain communities at stake but the lives of nearly one in four people in the world, all of whom rely on the Himalayas for water.
Nepalese rivers alone provide water for 700 million people in India and Bangladesh. "If there is less snow in the Himalayas, or the monsoon rains weaken, or the glaciers melt with climate change, then all south Asian farming, industry, water supplies and cities will suffer," said Nepalese climate specialist Ngamindra Dahal.
Read more: http://gulfnews.com/news/world/other-world/asian-glaciers-melting-fast-1.549629Want to help with Global-Warming? Please visit http://www.whiteearth.org
Please become a fan of the Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/WhiteEarthorg/119367692642 and http://www.facebook.com/pages/WhiteEarth/165767310764
Become a friend on Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/christopherbeau
Follow me on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/christopherbeau
Become a follower of this blog
When you buy art on http://www.artsymphony.com 100% of your investment goes to sponsor WhiteEarth
No comments:
Post a Comment