Planetens tusinder af isbræer trækker sig tilbage og efterlader hastigt voksende søer, som truer med såkaldte ødelæggende “gletscher-løb”
DURBAN, 5 December 2011 (IRIN) – High up in the Himalayas in Nepal is a glacial lake that has been growing in length by 60 metres a year, threatening to burst its banks as rising temperatures cause the glacier that feeds it to melt more quickly.
– The Nepalese government has exhausted funds (ikke flere penge) to drain the Tsho Rolpa [Nepal’s biggest glacial lake] which poses an immediate threat to at least 10.000 people, said Samjwal Bajracharya, the lead author of a new report on the Status of Glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, also known as the Third Pole.
Besides the imminent threat to lives, if the lake bursts its banks, it could lead to water shortages affecting hundreds of thousands who live in the Rolwaling Valley, about 110 km northeast of the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu.
The phenomenon is known glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned of more GLOFs in the HKH region as it becomes warmer.
Three studies
The report is one of three studies produced by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), a Kathmandu-based organization funded by eight countries that researches climate change and mountain ecosystems.
The studies compile some of the most recent research on climate change, and snow and glacier melt in the HKH region, which has the largest concentration of snow and glaciers outside of the polar regions.
However, researchers have only been able to assess 10 of the 54.000 glaciers in the region. Information on the state and behaviour of the region’s glaciers is critical because they feed 10 rivers that provide water to 20 percent of the world’s population.
Changes in glacier ice or snow-melt affect the glacier’s storage capacity, and the flow of water downstream. The 10 major river systems stretch across eight Asian countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan.
The white spot
Læs videre på http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=94398
