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.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese