The Coming Catastrophe
http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2011/dec/dec05/news09.php
Last Updated: Mon, 05.12.11 13:56
Nepal's glacial area depleted by 21 percent in 30 yrs: Report
A Kathmandu based international organization working in the
environment and climate change sector has stated that Nepal's glacial
areas have been depleted by 21 percent over the past 30 years.
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)
stated this recent data in a report, "The Status of Glaciers in the
Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) Region" which was released on Sunday during
Mountain Day, a convening of mountain experts, policy makers, and
climate change negotiators on the sidelines of UN climate talks which
is ongoing in South African city Durban.
According to the press release issued by ICIMOD, findings of a
three-year Sweden-funded research project led by ICIMOD was able to
tally the number of glaciers in the HKH region-more than 54,000-and
measure the area covered, 60,000 km.
In the Everest area, the data show a marked acceleration in the loss
of glacial mass between 2002 and 2005. Glaciers appear to be shrinking
in both the central and eastern Himalayas. Country-specific studies
have found that depletion of glacial area over the past 30 years was
21 percent in Nepal.
Of these 54,000 glaciers, however, only ten have been studied
regularly to determine the net loss or gain of ice and snow (called
the mass balance). That handful of studies shows a loss of mass
balance, with the rate of loss roughly doubling between 1980 and 2000
and 1996 and 2005. In the Everest area, the data show a marked
acceleration in the loss of glacial mass between 2002 and 2005.
Glaciers appear to be shrinking in both the central and eastern
Himalayas.
The HKH, home to 30 percent of the world's glaciers and this region's
glaciers and snow breathe life into the regional monsoon system and
feed the headwaters of 10 major river systems that stretch across
eight Asian countries-Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India,
Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan.
The HKH region is one of the world's hotspots for global warming. The
rise in temperature has been greater at higher altitudes and more
pronounced during the cooler months than in the warmer months. This
imbalance narrows the seasonal variation in temperature, potentially
favoring some plant species over others and already having impacts on
agriculture. Warming across the region is greater than the global
average of 0.74°C over the past 100 years. However, this change is not
evenly distributed. It is most pronounced in higher altitude areas
like the central Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau. In Lhasa, for
example, temperatures increased by 1.35°C between 1950 and 1980.
Meanwhile, other two reports released at the same programme also cite
problems of climate change, snow and glacier melt in Asia's
mountainous Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) region-site of Mount Everest
and many of the world's tallest peaks-highlight the region's extreme
vulnerability to climate change, as rising temperatures disturb the
balance of snow, ice and water, threatening millions of mountain
people and 1.3 billion people living downstream in Asia's major river
basins.
"These reports provide a new baseline and location-specific
information for understanding climate change in one of the most
vulnerable ecosytems in the world," said Dr Rajendra Pachauri, Chair
of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). "They
substantially deepen our understanding of this region - and of all
mountain systems - while also pointing to the knowledge gaps yet to be
filled and actions that must be taken to deal with the challenge of
climate change globally and to minimise the risks from impacts
locally."
The three reports published by ICIMOD provide the most up-to-date
compilation of information on the current status of climate change in
the HKH region and the first authoritative data on the number and
extent of glaciers and the patterns of snowfall in the world's most
mountainous region.
The region offers livelihoods to the 210 million people living there
and indirectly provides goods and services to the 1.3 billion people
living in river basins downstream who benefit from food and energy.
Rich in biodiversity, the region is home to some 25,000 plant and
animal species, and contains a larger diversity of forest types than
the Amazon. Yet despite an abundance of natural resources in the
region, poverty is rife. HKH countries account for 15 percent of the
world's total migration.
Last Updated: Mon, 05.12.11 13:56
Nepal's glacial area depleted by 21 percent in 30 yrs: Report
A Kathmandu based international organization working in the
environment and climate change sector has stated that Nepal's glacial
areas have been depleted by 21 percent over the past 30 years.
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)
stated this recent data in a report, "The Status of Glaciers in the
Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) Region" which was released on Sunday during
Mountain Day, a convening of mountain experts, policy makers, and
climate change negotiators on the sidelines of UN climate talks which
is ongoing in South African city Durban.
According to the press release issued by ICIMOD, findings of a
three-year Sweden-funded research project led by ICIMOD was able to
tally the number of glaciers in the HKH region-more than 54,000-and
measure the area covered, 60,000 km.
In the Everest area, the data show a marked acceleration in the loss
of glacial mass between 2002 and 2005. Glaciers appear to be shrinking
in both the central and eastern Himalayas. Country-specific studies
have found that depletion of glacial area over the past 30 years was
21 percent in Nepal.
Of these 54,000 glaciers, however, only ten have been studied
regularly to determine the net loss or gain of ice and snow (called
the mass balance). That handful of studies shows a loss of mass
balance, with the rate of loss roughly doubling between 1980 and 2000
and 1996 and 2005. In the Everest area, the data show a marked
acceleration in the loss of glacial mass between 2002 and 2005.
Glaciers appear to be shrinking in both the central and eastern
Himalayas.
The HKH, home to 30 percent of the world's glaciers and this region's
glaciers and snow breathe life into the regional monsoon system and
feed the headwaters of 10 major river systems that stretch across
eight Asian countries-Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India,
Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan.
The HKH region is one of the world's hotspots for global warming. The
rise in temperature has been greater at higher altitudes and more
pronounced during the cooler months than in the warmer months. This
imbalance narrows the seasonal variation in temperature, potentially
favoring some plant species over others and already having impacts on
agriculture. Warming across the region is greater than the global
average of 0.74°C over the past 100 years. However, this change is not
evenly distributed. It is most pronounced in higher altitude areas
like the central Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau. In Lhasa, for
example, temperatures increased by 1.35°C between 1950 and 1980.
Meanwhile, other two reports released at the same programme also cite
problems of climate change, snow and glacier melt in Asia's
mountainous Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) region-site of Mount Everest
and many of the world's tallest peaks-highlight the region's extreme
vulnerability to climate change, as rising temperatures disturb the
balance of snow, ice and water, threatening millions of mountain
people and 1.3 billion people living downstream in Asia's major river
basins.
"These reports provide a new baseline and location-specific
information for understanding climate change in one of the most
vulnerable ecosytems in the world," said Dr Rajendra Pachauri, Chair
of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). "They
substantially deepen our understanding of this region - and of all
mountain systems - while also pointing to the knowledge gaps yet to be
filled and actions that must be taken to deal with the challenge of
climate change globally and to minimise the risks from impacts
locally."
The three reports published by ICIMOD provide the most up-to-date
compilation of information on the current status of climate change in
the HKH region and the first authoritative data on the number and
extent of glaciers and the patterns of snowfall in the world's most
mountainous region.
The region offers livelihoods to the 210 million people living there
and indirectly provides goods and services to the 1.3 billion people
living in river basins downstream who benefit from food and energy.
Rich in biodiversity, the region is home to some 25,000 plant and
animal species, and contains a larger diversity of forest types than
the Amazon. Yet despite an abundance of natural resources in the
region, poverty is rife. HKH countries account for 15 percent of the
world's total migration.
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