Standing in the Himalayan valley of Langtang, Rinjin Dorje Lama remembers where he used to play as a child in the 1960s.
“When I was a kid, it was a lot longer,” said Lama, pointing at the Lirung glacier surrounded by snowy peaks on Nepal’s northern border with Tibet.
“We used to play on the glacier, and it came right down to the monastery, but now it’s about 2km further back,” he said.
PHOTO: AFP
Temperatures in the Himalayas are rising by around 0.06ºC annually, a long-term study by the Nepalese department of hydrology showed.
The rate is far above the global average given last year by the UN’s senior scientists, who said surface temperatures have risen by a total of 0.74ºC over the past 100 years.
“I don’t really understand why the glacier has gone so far back, but I am told it’s due to global warming,” said Lama, whose weather-beaten face makes him look older than his 57 years.
Lama has witnessed other changes in the roadless valley, 60km northwest of Kathmandu, where sure-footed ponies remain the quickest form of transport.
“I feel that the sun is getting stronger, and in the past there used to be a lot more snow in winter. We used to get up to 2m in the winter, and it would stay for weeks. Last winter we only had 2cm,” he said.
On top of unpredictable weather, other dangers are increasing in Nepal’s mountains because of climate change.
As the meltwater flows off the glacier, lakes begin to form and grow.
When the pressure becomes too great, the lake walls burst and release millions of cubic tonnes of water that can wash away people, villages and arable land.
Researchers at the Nepal-based International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) have said five major glacial lake floods have hit Nepal since 1970, as well as at least two in Tibet and one in Bhutan.
Ang Tsering Sherpa, who grew up in Nepal’s Everest region, has observed the growth of one glacial lake with growing concern.
“A small pond first appeared close to the Imja glacier in about 1962,” said Sherpa, who owns a trekking and expedition company in Kathmandu.
Last year, a research team from Japan measured the Imja lake as being 1.7km long, 900m wide and 92m deep.
“If that lake bursts, it will be like a tsunami,” said Sherpa, who estimates that the Imja glacier has been retreating at a rate of 60m per year. “Imagine the damage that will be caused by a lake emptying within minutes into a well-inhabited valley. The loss of life will be huge.”
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) calculates there are 2,000 glacial lakes forming in Nepal and around 20 are in danger of bursting.
Mountain dwellers are seeing first hand the effects of global warming, but the changing climate will eventually have dire consequences for a much wider section of Asia’s population.
Himalayan snow and ice is a massive freshwater reserve that feeds nine of Asia’s major waterways, including the Indus, Ganges and Yellow rivers.
“In the long term, water scarcity will become a big problem,” said Sandeep Chamling Rai, WWF climate change officer. “There will eventually be a tipping point where the amount of water from the glaciers is hugely reduced, which will result in loss of water resources for people downstream who rely on these Himalayan-fed rivers.”
The ICIMOD said in August that climate change posed a serious threat to essential water resources in the Himalayans, putting the livelihoods of 1.3 billion people at risk.
Studies say much of the blame is due to the “Asia brown cloud” spewed from tailpipes, factory chimneys and power plants — as well as forests and fields that are burned for agriculture, and wood and dung burned for fuel.
Back in the Langtang Valley, where around 700 people and 4,000 yaks live, Lama can only watch as the ice and snow retreat from around his home.
“I am very worried, but what can we do? We are not contributing to global warming but we feel its effects. I am scared there will be no snow and ice in these mountains within the next 15 years,” he said.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS