Global warming is melting Himalayan glaciers at such as rate that most will disappear by 2035, it was reported yesterday. Before they vanish they could unleash a torrent of floods, spelling disaster for mountain valley communities, scientists have warned.
Glaciers cover around 17 per cent of the Himalayas and contain thousands of cubic kms of water. A study to be presented next month to the International Commission on Snow and Ice (ICSI) predicts that all the glaciers in the central and eastern Himalayas may have gone within 40 years due to global warming.
The findings emerge from a four-year study led by Mr Syed Hasnain, of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. His team's investigation, reported yesterday in New Scientist magazine, found that glaciers are receding faster in the Himalayas than anywhere else on Earth.
One of the most serious outcomes is the effect on rivers such as the Ganges, which rely on the glaciers' meltwater for up to two-thirds of the water flowing through them.
As the glaciers disappear, the flow of these rivers is expected to become less reliable and eventually diminish, resulting in widespread water shortages. Another danger is the dozens of precarious meltwater lakes left by the retreating glaciers.
The largest break-out so far occurred in August 1985, when a wall of water up to 15 metres high rushed down a valley at Dig Tsho in the Khumbal Himal region of Nepal, drowning people in their homes and destroying a hydroelectric plant.
The next disaster could be downstream of the Imja glacier lake in Sagarmatha national park, Nepal, said New Scientist.
A lake that began forming there in the 1960s was predicted to burst within five years.
The study follows reports of a worldwide decline in glaciers. Alpine glaciers have retreated by 25 per cent over the past 100 years, during which time global average temperatures rose by more than 0.5 Celsius.