CLIMATE CHANGE: ‘Water Towers of Asia’ Show Cracks

  • by GUWAHATI, INDIA
  • Inter Press Service

A concerted effort to formally document the magnitude and directions of climate trends in the Eastern Himalayas and thereby decide regional adaptation strategies is critical to ensure the region’s water security, according to water experts.

In Nepal, the Imja glacier is retreating almost 70 metres per year. In Bhutan, where glacial melt is the least perceptible currently, 25 of 677 glaciers are categorised potentially dangerous, with an ‘alarming’ glacial retreat rate of 20-30 metres per year, says G. Karma Chhopel of Bhutan’s National Environment Commission. It is more important to gather statistics on the effects of climate change than to get preoccupied with China building dams in the region, says Professor Jayanta Bandyopadhyay of the Centre for Development and Environment Policy at the Kolkata branch of the Indian Institute of Management.

'Building more dams when waters are anyway threatened due to climate change is accelerating the issue of water loss. It’s a bit like ‘cutting off your nose to spite your face’,' Himanshu Thakkar, of the New Delhi-based South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, told IPS. Sharing of water is an important issue, says Thakkar. 'India needs to leverage its huge trade dealings with China to form a water-sharing accord.'

Bandyopadhayay says a conflict-resolution system is a ‘good idea’, 'But we still don’t know the nature of changes in the region. What will the treaty be based on?' he asks. 'I must again stress on the need for developing indigenous climate models for the region. Adaptation strategies will be very difficult without this,' Bandyopadhyay told IPS. 'The whole issue of Asian Development depends on this.'

The Eastern Himalayan mountains - stretching 1,500 miles across Nepal, Bhutan, northern Myanmar, south-eastern Tibet and northeast India - and referred to as the ‘water towers of Asia’ are also known as the Third Pole due to their having the largest glaciated area outside of the two poles. The region is home to three massive river basins, the Indus in the west, Ganges in the centre and the Brahmaputra in the east, featuring major rivers including the Ganges, Indus, Brahmaputra, Yangtze, Mekong, Salween, Xingjian, Chao Phraya, Irrawaddy, Amu Darya, Syr Darya and Tarim, flowing through central, south and south-eastern Asia.

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service