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impacts of climate change
A series of articles by Bund/Friends of the
Earth Germany - 1st published in Frankfurter
Rundschau
Impacts of Climate Change - Part 3
BUND/Friends of the Earth Germany
Meltdown in Everest - Himalayan Mountain
Villages Under Threat From Glacial Melt
Where Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing
Norgay trekked over never-ending ice on their
first ascent of Mount Everest 53 years ago,
they would today have to wade through mud. To
reach the glacier, which at that time ended
just beyond their base camp, they would have
to walk for a further two hours today because
the Himalayan glaciers – once so majestic –
are now melting rapidly at a rate of 15
metres per year.
Goodbye Glaciers, Hello
Floods
From his office window, Prakash Sharma can
see the highest summit of the Himalayas.
Sharma is director of Friends of the Earth,
Nepal. Since his childhood, he has known and
loved the harsh landscape of the Roof of the
World. His voice cannot conceal his concern
about what he has observed for years now:
“Glaciers are melting everywhere in the
Himalayas, leaving behind them a desert of
sludge and rubble. These are hideous scars on
nature.” It's no wonder this is happening
when you consider that the average
temperature in the region has increased by
one degree Celsius since 1970. As the
temperature increases, so the glaciers melt.
The economic livelihood of the local
community is at stake. “The Sagarmatha
National Park, whose highest peak is Everest,
is losing its natural beauty”, bemoans
Sharma. Endangered species, like the snow
leopard and the lesser panda, are
disappearing. Sharma fears that tourists will
lose interest and will seek out other travel
destinations. This would be catastrophic for
the country, which ranks as one of the ten
poorest in the world.
Friends of the Earth, Nepal, along with
the international
Climate Justice
Programme,
have consequently applied to
UNESCO to have the Mount Everest National
Park included in the list of endangered
Natural World Heritage Sites, thereby
according it special protection. They are
supported by well-known personalities such as
Reinhold Messner and Sir David Attenborough
and the campaign has met with its first
success: a UNESCO panel of experts is
assessing the application.
Rising Lake Levels Threaten
Mountain Villages
Yet another outcome of climate change is a
source of worry for the Himalayan experts.
Immense volumes of water are being released
from the melting glaciers and are turning
what were previously gently flowing rivers
into torrents, destroying bridges, ripping
away plant life and flooding villages.
Elsewhere, the melt water collects in natural
hollows and creates new lakes. Where deserts
of scree existed 50 years ago, today we find
natural reservoirs measuring kilometres in
length, which are filled to the brim and are
ready to burst. Nothing could withstand the
flood that would then plunge towards valleys
– the inhabitants of villages lying in those
valleys would have no chance. Using satellite
images, scientists from the United Nations
have come to the conclusion that 44 lakes in
Nepal and Bhutan could flood in the next few
years. Thirteen of these alone lie within the
Sagarmatha National Park.
Theoretically, man-made drains could take
the pressure off the glacial lakes and could
deliver a controlled flow of water to the
valley. But this method for alleviating the
threat would be too expensive for Nepal. The
rich industrialised countries recognise in
principle that they are responsible for
climate change and that, therefore, they
should pay for protective measures. However,
concrete negotiations are very slow-moving,
perhaps too slow-moving for the mountain
villages of Nepal.
Translation: Sharon O'Brien
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