The threats to the Himalaya that rose and retreated this year
4 years ago

The threats to the Himalaya that rose and retreated this year

Live Mint  

A single year in the vast timeline of Himalayan history is all but insignificant. Though it has caused enormous human suffering and economic hardship, a dramatic reduction in carbon emissions, on account of India’s lockdown, provided a brief respite from airborne pollution and the immediate effects of greenhouse gases. Aside from demonstrating convincingly how vehicular exhaust and industrial smog veil the sky, these few short months of clarity also provided the mountains with a momentary reprieve from particles of carbon and other forms of dust that are carried by the wind to settle upon snowcaps and glaciers, darkening their surfaces and causing them to absorb more sunlight and melt at a faster rate. In the year ahead, as we eventually begin to emerge from the Covid-19 crisis, it is unlikely that anyone will recall or appreciate the recent environmental lessons the Himalaya have taught us. Tectonic forces that began fifty million years ago, when primordial continents collided, continue to push the Himalaya skyward while the corrosive and creative flow of water constantly scours the land even as it generates new life.

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History of this topic

Uttarakhand's Panchachuli peaks face environmental crisis amid tourism surge
1 month, 1 week ago

Uttarakhand's Panchachuli peaks face environmental crisis amid tourism surge

New Indian Express  

DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand's remote border district is experiencing a rise in tourism, but this boom is taking a toll on the environment. Increased human activity has led to accelerated snowmelt, resulting in significant degradation of the once-pristine Panchachuli mountain range, with environmentalists noting that the snow-capped peaks are now visibly blackened. Professor Sunil Nautiyal, Director of the GB Pant National Himalayan …

Frontline On Air | Tunnel collapse in Uttarakhand is part of a bigger problem in the Himalayas
11 months, 3 weeks ago

Frontline On Air | Tunnel collapse in Uttarakhand is part of a bigger problem in the Himalayas

The Hindu  

Published : Jan 03, 2024 13:24 IST - 1 MIN READ In 2023, the Himalayan region has borne witness to an onslaught of disasters, from the sinking of Joshimath in Uttarakhand to floods and landslides in Himachal Pradesh, a glacial lake outburst in Sikkim, and the recent tunnel collapse near Barkot in Uttarakhand. While these events may seem disparate, they …

Happy ending and a call for caution
1 year ago

Happy ending and a call for caution

Hindustan Times  

The nation heaved a collective sigh of relief when the last of the 41 labourers trapped in an under-construction tunnel in the Himalayas near Uttarkashi, the roof of which had collapsed 17 days earlier, was rescued on Tuesday night. This great escape was a story of human endurance, grit and ingenuity with a group of 14 artisanal miners from Uttar …

Himalayan glaciers could lose 80% of their volume if global warming isn't controlled, study finds
1 year, 6 months ago

Himalayan glaciers could lose 80% of their volume if global warming isn't controlled, study finds

The Hindu  

June 22, 2023 01:51 pm | Updated 02:45 pm IST Glaciers are melting at unprecedented rates across the Hindu Kush Himalayan mountain ranges and could lose up to 80% of their volume this century if greenhouse gas emissions aren't sharply reduced, according to a report. “The people living in these mountains who have contributed next to nothing to global warming …

Himalayan glaciers could lose 80% of their volume if global warming isn’t controlled, study finds
1 year, 6 months ago

Himalayan glaciers could lose 80% of their volume if global warming isn’t controlled, study finds

Associated Press  

BENGALURU, India — Glaciers are melting at unprecedented rates across the Hindu Kush Himalayan mountain ranges and could lose up to 80% of their volume this century if greenhouse gas emissions aren’t sharply reduced, according to a report. “The people living in these mountains who have contributed next to nothing to global warming are at high risk due to climate …

Mount Everest on edge: Earth's highest mountain lost 2,000 years' worth of ice in just 30 years
1 year, 6 months ago

Mount Everest on edge: Earth's highest mountain lost 2,000 years' worth of ice in just 30 years

India Today  

Glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayan mountain ranges are experiencing unprecedented melting rates, risking the loss of up to 80% of their volume by the end of this century, if greenhouse gas emissions are not significantly reduced. The ice and snow in the Hindu Kush Himalayas are crucial water sources for these rivers, which flow through 16 Asian countries, providing …

Himalayan glaciers could lose 80% of volume if global warming is not controlled, study finds
1 year, 6 months ago

Himalayan glaciers could lose 80% of volume if global warming is not controlled, study finds

LA Times  

Glaciers are melting at unprecedented rates across the Hindu Kush Himalayan mountain range and could lose up to 80% of their volume this century if greenhouse gas emissions aren’t sharply reduced, according to a new report. “The people living in these mountains who have contributed next to nothing to global warming are at high risk due to climate change,” said …

Himalayan rivers like Indus, Ganges will see flows reduced as glaciers recede: UN
1 year, 9 months ago

Himalayan rivers like Indus, Ganges will see flows reduced as glaciers recede: UN

Deccan Chronicle  

United Nations: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that major Himalayan rivers like the Indus, the Ganges and Brahmaputra, all hugely important for India, could see reductions in their flows as glaciers and ice sheets recede over the coming decades due to global warming. "As glaciers and ice sheets continue to recede over the coming decades, major Himalayan rivers like …

Climate change adding layer of vulnerability to fragile Himalayas: Experts
2 years, 5 months ago

Climate change adding layer of vulnerability to fragile Himalayas: Experts

Deccan Chronicle  

New Delhi: Climate change and ill-planned human interventions in the Himalayas have accentuated the vulnerability of the hills to disasters, resulting in a manifold increase in loss of property and human lives, experts say. It is acting as a force multiplier and making landslides, flash floods and cloudbursts more disastrous,” said Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of South Asia Network on Dams, …

Climate change and human intervention adding layer of vulnerability to fragile Himalayas, say experts
2 years, 5 months ago

Climate change and human intervention adding layer of vulnerability to fragile Himalayas, say experts

Firstpost  

Several key roads are currently blocked due to landslides triggered by heavy rain in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and the northeast New Delhi: Climate change and ill-planned human interventions in the Himalayas have accentuated the vulnerability of the hills to disasters, resulting in a manifold increase in loss of property and human lives, experts say. Several key roads …

Himalayan glaciers are melting faster than ever before
3 years ago

Himalayan glaciers are melting faster than ever before

Live Mint  

Back in February this year, Lounge carried an in-depth cover story on how climate change was wrecking havoc on the Himalaya. A new study, published in the journal Scientific Reports on 20 December, re-iterates these warnings, while stating that Himalayan glaciers are melting at a rate that’s faster than ever before. The report, Accelerated Mass Loss Of Himalayan Glaciers Since …

Himalayan glaciers melting at exceptional rate due to global warming, says study
3 years ago

Himalayan glaciers melting at exceptional rate due to global warming, says study

India Today  

Glaciers in the Himalayas are melting at an "exceptional" rate because of global warming, threatening the water supply of millions of people in Asia, according to a study published on Monday. The researchers found that the Himalayan glaciers have lost ice ten times more quickly over the last few decades than on average since the last major glacier expansion 400-700 …

Climate change, fragile ecology make Kinnaur a ticking time bomb: Experts
3 years, 4 months ago

Climate change, fragile ecology make Kinnaur a ticking time bomb: Experts

Hindustan Times  

With another landslide claiming multiple lives at Negulsari in Kinnaur district, the fragility of the ecology of the Himalayan region, which is at increasing risk due to climate change, has come to the forefront. A study conducted in Kinnaur between 2012 and 2016 found that hydropower proliferation in the name of ‘clean energy’ has brought rapid land-use changes adversely impacting …

Visualising the Himalaya with other coordinates
3 years, 4 months ago

Visualising the Himalaya with other coordinates

The Hindu  

A conceptual audit of questions related to geopolitics and security concerns while talking or thinking about the Himalaya is perhaps long overdue. The Mission document avowedly claims: “The Government of India has come-up with this Mission in recognition of the fact that the Himalayan Ecosystem is important for ecological security of India.” Thus, comes the Indian Himalaya. Understanding the Himalaya …

On Thin Ice: How climate change is wrecking the Himalaya
3 years, 10 months ago

On Thin Ice: How climate change is wrecking the Himalaya

Live Mint  

Around 10.30am on Sunday, 7 February, a flash flood swept down the Rishi Ganga river. “This is unheard of,” says Dhan Singh Rana, 64, of Lata village in the Niti Valley, a few kilometres upstream from Reni. “Where do I even start?” Shrestha says climate change is going to affect every aspect of Himalayan life, in direct and indirect ways. …

Himalayan glacier disaster highlights climate change risks
3 years, 10 months ago

Himalayan glacier disaster highlights climate change risks

Associated Press  

NEW DELHI — When Ravi Chopra saw the devastating deluge of water and debris crash downstream from a Himalayan glacier on Sunday, his first thought was that this was exactly the scenario that his team had warned the Indian government of in 2014. They had warned that warming due to climate change was melting the Himalayan glaciers and facilitated avalanches …

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