Some 15 million people worldwide are at risk from flooding caused by glacial lakes, half of them in India, China, Pakistan and Peru, according to the latest study published in the journal Nature Communications. As the most densely populated mountain country in the world, Nepal is at higher risk. Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) in the Nepal Himalaya can be even more catastrophic for towns along valley floors as well as downstream infrastructure. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-smarter-himalayan-infrastructure">What happened in Melamchi </a>in July 2021 is a sign of things to come. Nepal’s largest infrastructure project to supply water to Kathmandu was nearly destroyed by a massive debris flow after a cloudburst upstream in the Langtang National Park. “What make GLOFs worse in Nepal is that they are often combined with the monsoon,” explains watershed expert Madhukar Upadhyay. “Every year we have seasonal floods. When a weakened moraine is breached, more water is added to already swollen rivers. Making matters worse is high-intensity rainfall in higher altitudes as we saw in Manang in 2022.”&nbsp; Read more: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/climate-risk-to-hydropower-investment/">Climate risk to hydropower investment</a>, Ajaya Dixit  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230602040624_e60a90be970842d53f6e236b1a59612c82aa035635a3ae4838481a31710f1446.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20230602040624_e60a90be970842d53f6e236b1a59612c82aa035635a3ae4838481a31710f1446" data-rendition-name="original" width="853" height="640" loading="lazy" alt="Melamchi amage NT"> <figcaption>The damage from a massive debris flow on the Melamchi River in June 2021 to the channel diverting water from the Melamchi to the tunnel at the project headwork. Photo: SHIVA BASKOTA</figcaption> </figure>  Scientists say that the permafrost binding loose moraine material is also melting, and without the cementing action of the ice the moraine walls can collapse easily in heavy precipitation. Rain falling where there used to be snow is making matters worse.&nbsp; <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/living-below-nepal-s-melting-mountains">The Himalaya is melting</a> faster than the global average, and even in the best-case scenario, the mountains will lose more than one-third of their ice by 2100.&nbsp; A paper published in the journal Climate and Atmospheric Science last year revealed that the rate of ice loss on the South Col of Mt Everest is shocking: what took 2,000 years to accumulate is melting in a mere 25 years.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tracing-past-glacial-floods-in-kangchenjunga/">Tracing past glacial floods in Kanchanjunga</a>, Alton C Byers  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230602040632_f3e5d9e3eb4dca842d715afab7ee68899e0fa3c0d2f9f039d9b288b1492f4955.png" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20230602040632_f3e5d9e3eb4dca842d715afab7ee68899e0fa3c0d2f9f039d9b288b1492f4955" data-rendition-name="original" width="891" height="500" loading="lazy" alt="Map"> </figure>  There are 3,252 glacial lakes in Nepal, including the Khumbu Glacier where Base Camp is now 50m lower than when Hillary and Tenzing climbed Everest<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/everest-70-years-on"> seventy years ago</a>.&nbsp; Imja was a debris covered glacier on trekking maps even 25 years ago, but is now a 2km long lake. Tso Rolpa glacial lake at 4,580m in the Rolwaling Valley has grown seven times in size in the past 60 years. “There is a lot of evidence that the number of glacier lakes in Nepal and worldwide is increasing,” says Miriam Jackson, glaciologist with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). “The size of existing lakes is also increasing. For example, the area of glacier lakes increased by 12% in the Kosi basin and 8% in the Gandaki basin.” The water level in Imja has been lowered by 3.4m and by 3m in Tso Rolpa at a cost of $7.2 million and $9 million respectively. Scientists now say the water level in Tso Rolpa needs to go down by another 20m to reduce risk of bursting. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/danger-nepal-s-glacial-lakes-are-filling-up">DANGER: Nepal’s glacial lakes are filling up</a>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230602040628_4ac8ea629de0f69bfb27fe9b783f126c7eea6dcadda7e812436d393d7c21c13e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20230602040628_4ac8ea629de0f69bfb27fe9b783f126c7eea6dcadda7e812436d393d7c21c13e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1843" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Imja lake NT"> <figcaption>A frozen Imja Lake looking east from the outlet. Photo: SHARAD JOSHI</figcaption> </figure>  There are other potentially dangerous lakes like Thulagi below Himalchuli, and new lakes are emerging on both sides of the Himalaya in China and Nepal that have not even been mapped. Nepal’s glaciers are shrinking three times faster than in 1998 and Jackson says that the possibility of flooding, whether from glacial lakes or other sources, is taken into account when building close to the rivers. When Nepal’s only reservoir project on the Kulekhani was commissioned in 1982, engineers had designed it to function for 100 years. But a cloudburst in the catchment area in 1993 deposited so much debris into the lake that its lifespan was reduced by 30 years. “Melamchi and Kulekhani are proof that the entire Himalayan region including Nepal are not suited for mega projects. Our focus and investment should instead be on multiple small-scale projects spread out across the country,” says watershed expert Madhukar Upadhyay. As for infrastructure already under construction, there are several mitigating measures that can be deployed, such as early warning and real-time information systems in the catchment area, not only about rainfall but GLOFs and landslide blocked rivers. Experts say Nepal and the countries in the Himalaya should not overlook the phenomenon of permafrost melting that is making the mountains and moraines much more prone to erosion. Permafrost is a thick subsurface layer of frozen soil that is generally not visible and thus harder to identify. Besides Melamchi, thawing permafrost is thought to have been partly responsible for the Chamoli disaster in the Indian Himalaya in 2021. Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=2391#.XoyO8MgzbIU">The day after tomorrow in the Himalaya</a>, Navin Singh Khadka “Generally, moraines have an ice core, which is one reason why moraine-dammed lakes are so dangerous. The ice could be hundreds or even thousands of years old and melt very slowly but the moraine is constantly settling,” explains Jackson. “Thawing permafrost makes mountains unstable, thus causing rockfalls. If there is a landslide into a glacier lake, then that could trigger a flood.” GLOFs also have a transboundary dimension since so many of Nepal’s rivers and their tributaries originate in glaciers in Tibet. Of the 47 high-risk glacial lakes in Nepal, 20 of them start in Tibet (see map, below). Mitigating measures such as artificially lowering the water level are expensive which makes cross-border early warning of GLOFs so crucial. ICIMOD has launched the Kosi Initiative with a transboundary working group collaborating with the Chengdu-based Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment (IMHE) and others. It has also done computer modelling of flood hazard and an assessment called WeACT that integrates local knowledge with science to improve community preparedness. But GLOF risk can be reduced if vulnerable communities are aware of the danger, are given decision-making powers and have the resources to be prepared, as has been seen in Chunkung in Khumbu and Langtang, where villagers are adapting to climate change by building embankments on their own, and avoiding construction along river banks. Says Madhukar Upadhyay: “We need to strengthen our local science to better understand the geology and glaciology, make local communities and the national government aware of the dangers and take the risk into account in building settlements, hydropower plants, bridges and roads.” &nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/human-face-of-a-himalayan-climate-crisis/">Human face of a Himalayan climate crisis</a>, Rastraraj Bhandari

Sonia Awale

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For destruction, ice is also great and will suffice

This year marks the 50th anniversary of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/norway-nepal-a-love-story">diplomatic relations between Norway and Nepal</a>, and also the 60th anniversary of cooperation with Nepal in renewable energy. Our people-to-people contacts go back even further. Now, Nepal and Norway have renewed their joint commitment to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
Norway and the regional partnership of ICIMOD (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development) are also long-term partners. Since 1993, Norway has been working with ICIMOD through its Nepal headquarter to develop better solutions for the Hindu Kush Himalaya region to address challenges related to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-climate-crisis-is-a-water-crisis-in-the-himalaya">climate change</a> on poverty alleviation. We have been partnering with ICIMOD for 30 years, and this week we signed a new agreement for continued support.
Norway and Nepal <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/orchestrating-cross-cultural-collaboration">are geographically far apart</a>, but as countries close to one of the three poles we share commonalities. Not least when it comes to the effects of climate change. The Hindu Kush Himalaya and the Arctic are affected by climate change; snow, ice and glaciers are melting, and the frozen land is tawing - changing the ecosystems and impacting the way of life for the people living in these areas.
The triple planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/we-have-not-respected-the-fragility-of-the-himalaya">amplified in the Hindu Kush Himalaya</a>. Pollution originating from Southeast Asia is affecting both the Himalaya and the Arctic due to long range transport by the wind. Global action is needed to reduce these effects to save nature and the people living there.
The Hindu Kush Himalaya stretches across eight Asian countries from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, to Pakistan. The rivers that flow from this mountain range support the lives and livelihoods of nearly two billion people living downstream.
An incredible diversity of flora and fauna provides a range of ecosystem services. A region of extraordinary diversity of peoples, topology, and nature, holds the largest reserves of fresh water outside the polar regions largely in the form of frozen water. That is why it is known as the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-third-pole-is-warming-faster-than-expected">Water Tower of Asia</a>. &nbsp;&nbsp;
The Norway-ICIMOD partnership is rooted in a shared affection for mountains, affection for the people that live in the mountains, and the opportunities that come from sustainable use of the mountains, for instance in hydropower and farming.
The partnership focuses on increased resilience of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Recharging-the-mountains,3465">farming practices to a changing climate</a>, the revival of drying springs, the protection of fragile mountain ecosystems, and assessment and reduction of disaster risk.
The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate will continue its collaboration with ICIMOD on important scientific work in the field to monitor changes in snow cover and glacier melt on a twice-annual basis – building upon the work done over the past eight years.
By setting up the world’s only monitoring stations above 5,000m, our teams have created a unique repository of knowledge: both for those living in the Himalaya and for policymakers and analysts of climate change worldwide.
As we have seen with the catastrophic floods in Pakistan last year, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/the-monsoon-mess-in-melamchi">flood disaster at Melamchi</a> the year before, and the unseasonal heat waves that engulfed much of Asia last month, the climate crisis is an emergency for the region. The time to act is now.&nbsp;
Climate impact is already compounding the extreme hardships borne by so many families across countries in this region, where an unacceptable 30% of people face food insecurity and half experience some form of malnutrition. As the impact of temperature rise accelerates, compromising water security, agriculture, children’s capacity to study, and people’s ability to work and increasing the risks of natural hazards, the challenges of everyday life are only set to intensify. &nbsp;
With the support of Norway, ICIMOD will be able to significantly increase its efforts to protect the people and ecosystems that are central to our mission, ultimately improving the region's ability to withstand future risks.&nbsp;
The Government of Norway and ICIMOD are united in the belief that not one institution can solve the challenges the world faces alone. But by leveraging vast breadth of knowledge, scope of work, and historical data, we stand ready to support the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/terrifying-assessment-of-a-himalayan-melting">Hindu Kush Himalaya</a> transition to a greener, more inclusive, and climate-resilient region. &nbsp;
Through this catalytic partnership, we set out to ensure the protection of many more communities, habitats, and species – safeguarding this unique and precious region for generations to come.
As we celebrate the 50-year milestone of diplomatic relations between Norway and Nepal, as well as 30 years of collaboration with ICIMOD, we are happy that the partnerships remain strong, and we are committed to further deepening our cooperation in the years to come.
Anne Beathe Tvinnereim is Minister of International Development of Norway, and Pema Gyamtsho is Director General, ICIMOD.

Anne Beathe Tvinnereim

Pema Gyamtsho

Norway supports Himalayan climate research

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230228150232/63fe10889c7e80680e0da49ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Photo: Kunda Dixit</figcaption></figure>As global warming melts glaciers across the planet, governments and environmentalists from the Arctic Circle to the Himalaya are getting together to cope with the crises to come.The Himalaya is called ‘The Third Pole’ because it is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-climate-crisis-is-a-water-crisis-in-the-himalaya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the largest source of water</a> stored as ice after the polar regions. But unlike the Arctic and Antarctica, the Himalayan mountains is also the source of fresh water for about 2 billion people living downstream.The climate crisis is causing the Himalayan ice cap and its <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/walking-the-talk-on-climate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">glaciers to heat up</a> 0.7oCelsius faster than the global average. Scientists predict at the current rate of warming, two-thirds of the remaining ice will be gone during this century.Fragile mountain communities are also affected by weather extremes like intense torrential downpours that unleash flashfloods, prolonged droughts, erratic monsoons, and glacial lake outburst floods. Unable to cope, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/unthinkable-in-the-current-climate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">climate refugees</a> are migrating from the region.Countries in the Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau have tried to work together to adapt to climate-induces crises, but geopolitical tensions have stymied these efforts. Clashes often erupt between India and China along their disputed Himalayan border. India and Pakistan have fought multiple wars since independence from Britain in 1947.However, the region could learn from the experience of the Arctic nations which also suffer from geopolitical tension, and are losing sea ice and the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18353#.Y9uPMHZBy3A" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D18353%23.Y9uPMHZBy3A&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1675503971358000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2lZPFIHYZpjMzJXHaiyr0J">Greenland ice sheet</a>.“When we started the Arctic cooperation more than 25 years ago, Russia was coming out of the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the Cold War just ended,” recalls Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, who served as Iceland’s president from 1996-2016, and is now chair of the <a href="https://www.arcticcircle.org/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.arcticcircle.org/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1675503971358000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2oTDkFQnYy8E4yaKOiUoSk">Arctic Circle</a> initiative.Still, the Arctic nations, Russia, United States, Iceland, Greenland, Canada, Norway, Sweden, and Finland were collaborating right up to the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year.The Arctic and the Himalayan regions are similar because of their dependence on the cryosphere. While the Arctic has global powers like the US and Russia and smaller countries such as Iceland, Sweden, Finland, and Norway, the Himalayan region is dominated by China and India together with smaller <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/mustang-forced-to-adapt-to-climate-crisis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mountainous countries like Nepal</a> and Bhutan.In the Arctic, both the United States and Russia came to a joint realisation 25 years ago that they would both be affected by the melting of the ice in the Arctic. In fact, President Grímsson played a key role in mediating between the two superpowers.The Arctic Circle, since its founding in 2013, has demonstrated that multilevel cooperation in the Arctic is possible through its annual assembly in Iceland composed of over 2,000 experts and scientists from 70 countries.Apart from scientific and diplomatic cooperation, the Arctic Circle model also highlights the need to engage and include indigenous people, those who have inhabited the region for thousands of years.There have been attempts to link the Arctic and the Himalaya. In fact in 2012, Grimsson initiated the <a href="https://www.arcticcircle.org/third-pole-himalaya-the-process" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.arcticcircle.org/third-pole-himalaya-the-process&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1675503971358000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2Q_4aEmYnDhmpSiBFW7ynj">Third Pole Environment Program</a>  with the University of Iceland, and later with India and Bhutan.The Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) served an important role in highlighting the impact of climate collapse on the mountains with the landmark 2019 publication, <a href="https://lib.icimod.org/record/34383" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://lib.icimod.org/record/34383&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1675503971358000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2cXSFwBeYFCu4F63lfcrX2">Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment</a>.“However, efforts so far have been isolated,” Grimsson says. “They have not produced a systematic engagement at the highest level, which is why we have this initiative.”The host of this year’s Climate Summit (COP28), the United Arab Emirates, has decided to co-host the <a href="https://www.arcticcircle.org/third-pole-process" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.arcticcircle.org/third-pole-process&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1675503971358000&amp;usg=AOvVaw12rgY8FIl7gw2HFgmP7L5f">Third Pole Process</a> with the Arctic Circle to support collaboration and learning from the Arctic on regional cooperation and glacial studies.At COP27 in Sharm Al Sheikh in November, the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment and the Arctic Circle hosted a dialogue on the Third Pole Process.About the next steps, the UAE’s Minister of Climate Change and Environment Mariam Al Mheiri told us: “What is really important is to convene the leaders of the Himalayan countries together to talk about how we can build, hopefully, a framework around the Third Pole Process.”The 2023 Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week last month was themed ‘Uniting the Global Community on the Road to Net-Zero: an Inclusive Energy Transition’, hoping to maintain momentum between COP27 and COP28.Grimsson is also hopeful that the initiative will enable not only Himalayan countries, but also the world to understand better the dramatic consequences of the melting of the glaciers in High Asia.The New York University Abu Dhabi’s eArtHumanities initiative, in collaboration with Rachel Carson Center, has also been working on the <a href="https://www.himalayanwaterproject.org/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.himalayanwaterproject.org/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1675503971358000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2tRmDDmfBxD6Wg7t1NKYpC">Geopolitics and Ecology of Himalayan Water </a>project dealing with the climate and geopolitical hotspot.“This can be a fascinating new way for universities to create multidisciplinary cooperation in order to understand this important part of the world,” Grimsson says of the initiative.While international environmentalists have called the world’s top exporter of fossil fuel hosting a climate summit, and the head of it oil company being named president of COP28 as a “greenwash”, others have said it shows the need to engage with all partners.Indeed, Grimsson says: “This is a signal that the UAE is approaching the climate crisis in a new way”.The Arctic model of cooperation showed that it is possible to come together on the climate crisis despite geopolitical tension, and this holds important lessons for <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-third-pole-is-warming-faster-than-expected/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Third Pole</a>.

From the North Pole to the Third Pole

<figure><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Page-6-7-NT-1.jpg" data-elementor-open-lightbox="yes" data-elementor-lightbox-title="Page 6-7 NT 1"> <img width="3999" height="301" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230208140212/63e39ff09c7e80680e0d7014jpeg.jpg" alt=""/></a> <figcaption> Full panorama of the Himalaya as seen on a clear day from Sunakothi on the southern outskirts of Kathmandu Valley, from Annapurna in the west to Numbur on the east. Photo: BINOD KRISHNA SHRESTHA</figcaption></figure><figure><a href="https://archivenepal.s3.amazonaws.com/nepalitimes/book/Nepali_Times_1144/index.html#page=6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> <img width="1603" height="800" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230208140212/63e39ff49c7e80680e0d7015jpeg.jpg" alt=""></a> <figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Binod Krishna Shrestha remembers in the 1970s seeing foreign visitors to Nepal being mesmerised by the vista of mountains to the north of Kathmandu.They used to ask him the names of the individual peaks. He was embarrassed to admit that he had no idea which was which.So, in 1975 he started working on a panorama of the mountains, identifying the individual Himalayan peaks. He was helped by journalist Kunda Dixit, who sketched and identified the peaks as seen from Patan, and took it to Delhi to print a brochure.The folder also had captions providing information on which expeditions had climbed the peaks, and it was later useful for celebrations by the Ministry of Tourism marking the 30th anniversary of the first ascent of Mt Everest in 1983.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-mountains-are-melting/">Nepal’s mountains are melting</a>, Alton C Byers <figure><img width="720" height="477" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230208140212/63e39ff89c7e80680e0d7016jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>After this, Shrestha was involved in rural development projects and trekked across Nepal, and this brought him up close and personal with the mountains he had been seeing from Kathmandu.He also visited other countries and took up philately, all along keeping up his interest in knowing Nepal’s mountains.He found that Mt Everest is depicted in 84 postage stamps of 46 countries. And Nepal’s other mountains are on 41 other postage stamps of various countries. Shrestha collected these stamps, and brought out a book, Nepal Himalaya: The Roof of the World on Postage Stamps.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/it-is-getting-hotter-on-the-roof-of-the-world/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">It is getting hotter on the roof of the world</a>, Kunda Dixit <figure><img width="2973" height="1374" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230208140212/63e39ffb9c7e80680e0d7017jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“The fact that other countries put Nepal’s mountains on their stamps was a recognition of their importance,” Shrestha says. “And it was a pity that we Nepalis did not bother to know them.” Shreshta feels that this is a failure of the geography curriculum in Nepal’s schools. The peaks all have names, either of Hindu gods and goddesses given by the people of the lower valleys, or Tibetan names by dwellers of the high mountains.The southern outskirts of Kathmandu Valley on clear days like this week provide a sweeping view of 250km of Himalayan mountains from Annapurna in the west to Numbur in the east. Few know that even Mt Everest is visible from Lagankhel and Kirtipur, peeking from behind Kang Nachugo in Rolwaling Himal.In those days there was no pollution in Kathmandu, and the peaks were visible most days from the city itself. And from the ridges on the southern rim of the Valley, the view is of mountains further still — from Dhaulagiri to Makalu. Shrestha credits his passion for identifying mountains to his Jesuit teachers at St Xaviers School in Godavari, and especially Fr James Donnelly who passed down his interest in mountains to boarding school students like himself.“Every December, we used to climb Pulchoki and Fr Donnelly used to point out each peak and tell us their names, and we never forgot them, they were etched in our memory,” says Shrestha, who clambers up to the terrace of his home in Sunakothi every day with clear skies to take pictures of the panorama. “With climate change threatening the Himalaya, it is important to know our mountains,” he says. “Only if we know them will we respect them, and value them.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/knowing-our-mountains/">Knowing our mountains</a>, Editorial

Knowing our mountains

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100128/63bfd35e9c7e80680e0d3059jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="4288" height="2848"/><figcaption>Photo: GUÐMUNDUR PÁLL ÓLAFSSON</figcaption></figure>There are many mistaken notions about Nepal and the Himalaya. Nepal is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/himal-pahad-tarai/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">not just mountains</a> — the southern plains make up a quarter of the area and is home to more than half the country’s population.The general perception is that the highest peaks mark Nepal’s northern border with China in one long chain. Actually, only Makalu, Lhotse, Everest, Cho Oyu, Gauri Shankar up to Phurbi Ghyachu are on the Nepal-China border.From the north of Kathmandu Valley westwards, Langtang, most of Ganesh, Manaslu, Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, Kanjiroba run diagonally across Nepal. On the other side of these mountains are the trans-Himalayan districts of Humla, Mugu, Dolpo, Mustang and Manang which form 18% of Nepal’s area.<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/conserving-mountains-for-people-and-nature/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Himalaya</a> is not one long row of peaks, but is made up of massifs called Himals: for example, Rolwaling Himal, Ganesh Himal, Annapurna Himal or Dhaulagiri Himal. These Himals are separated by rivers that are older than the mountains, and cut through them as they rose after the collision between the Indian and Eurasian plates starting 50 million years ago.Evidence of this is the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) and the Indus which wander along the Tibetan Plateau until they cut through the mountains. Most of Nepal’s major rivers, including the Karnali, Kali Gandaki, the Marsyangdi, Budi Gandaki, the two Bhote Kosis, Tama Kosi and the Arun originate in glaciers north of the main Himalayan chain<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100128/63bfd3629c7e80680e0d305ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="109">The <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16488" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kali Gandaki</a> is the deepest scar on the land surface of the earth, flowing at barely 1,400m with two 8,000m massifs of Annapurna and Dhaulagiri towering only 8km apart on either side.Along its riverbed are ammonites, perfectly preserved fossils of shellfish that lived on the floor of the Tethys Ocean 250 million years ago. Fossilised sea lilies have been found on the yellow limestone on top of Mt Everest — thrusted from the bottom of the ocean to nearly nine kilometres into the edge of the stratosphere.What makes our mountains so scenic is also why they are seismic. The mountains are still rising at about 1cm a year as India continues to plough under the softer Asian plate — not steadily but in gigantic lurches every few decades. The rock strata move at 20mm every year, and bend with the strain until they snap, causing regular earthquakes.Himalayan seismologists estimate the tectonic tension building up beneath us, and have calculated that there are 8-9M earthquakes every 500 years or so, with smaller temblors every 100 years along segments of the Himalaya.The <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=5065#.Y4-SSy9w2Lc">1934</a> and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/photos-nepal-earthquake-2015,2207">2015</a> earthquakes have eased the strain in central Nepal somewhat, but in western Nepal there is a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/aint-seen-nothing-yet/">‘seismic gap’ </a>because there has been no megaquake for at least 500 years. An 8.5M earthquake there could lead to surface displacement of 8m or more, causing widespread destruction in Nepal and all over the densely populated north Indian plains.Aside from the danger of building collapses, an earthquake of this magnitude can cause landslides to block rivers and unleash catastrophic floods of the kind that probably caused the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/past-disasters-foretold/">Pokhara Valley</a> to fill up some 600 years ago.The world’s youngest mountain range is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/we-have-not-respected-the-fragility-of-the-himalaya/">already very fragile</a>, but haphazard infrastructure and settlements without risk assessment makes it even more dangerous. And the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-change-is-a-disaster-in-the-nepal-himalaya/">climate emergency</a> with its <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-needs-weather-stations-in-the-himalaya/">weather extremes</a> adds to the hazards of Himalayan seismicity, including the threat of simultaneous <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/danger-nepals-glacial-lakes-are-filling-up/">glacial lake outburst floods</a>.We need to know our mountains, our own survival depends on it. Nepal’s planners and government ought to <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/preparing-for-the-next-big-earthquake-in-nepal">factor in earthquake</a> and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-terrifying-assessment-of-himalayan-melting/">climate risks</a> in future development. The mountains will seek their revenge if we mistreat them. Wilful ignorance, greed and incompetent implementation are sure to invite disaster.The Himalaya is not just a mountain range. It is the entire watershed from the Tibetan Plateau, though the Himals, Mahabharat and Chure foothills to the Tarai. This is the water tower of Asia, it stores ice and groundwater not just for Nepal but for hundreds of millions of people downstream.It is Nepal’s duty to protect the Himalaya not just from and for ourselves, but for humans and other life forms we share this planet with.

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100128/63bfd3509c7e80680e0d3055jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1041"/><figcaption>CALVING OFF: In the past 30 years, the Imja Glacier in the Khumbu has grown into a lake 2km long as the permafrost and ice melts. Photo: KIRIL RUSEV</figcaption></figure>The Himalaya is the largest storehouse of water as ice after the polar regions, which is why it is called the Third Pole. The world’s highest mountain range is also referred to as the Water Tower of Asia, but the roof of the world is running out of water.Sky rivers bring moisture from the ocean and precipitate it as rain or snow on the mountains. Much of it seeps into the ground with the mountains acting like gigantic sponges. The rest is stored as ice and melts slowly in summer when glaciers bring them down.But climate change is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-change-is-a-disaster-in-the-nepal-himalaya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">heating up the Himalaya</a> faster than the global average, disrupting this water cycle. The rains are becoming more erratic, either coming in torrents or not at all, groundwater is depleting, and glaciers have shrunk.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100128/63bfd3549c7e80680e0d3056jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="109">Rivers originating in the Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau that sustain the inhabitants of the mountains as well as 1 billion Asians downstream will have less water in the dry season in the coming decades.If greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced, scientists predict that two-thirds of Himalayan glaciers will be gone during this century. Already, there is a river running through Everest Base Camp, and runnels in the Khumbu Icefall may turn it into a waterfall in the not-too-distant future.Khim Lal Gautam, who was part of the team that measured the height of Mt Everest to greater accuracy in 2020, has climbed the world’s highest mountain twice and has noticed the changes.“The moraine and permafrost here at the Everest Base Camp is melting dangerously. The glacier is collapsing, every time I come here there is less and less ice,” says Gautam.He adds: “The accelerated melting means there is now this big river running through Base Camp. In the last six years, the average temperature here has increased by six degrees.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/it-is-getting-hotter-on-the-roof-of-the-world/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">It is getting hotter on the roof of the world</a>, Kunda Dixit<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100128/63bfd3569c7e80680e0d3057jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3000" height="671"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Across the Himalaya, iconic peaks like Mt Machapuchre have turned into bare rock during some seasons. Between October 2008 to October 2020, Mt Saipal at 7,031m in far west Nepal lost most of its ice, shocking mountaineers, scientists and locals alike.In 2006, the serac below the summit of Ama Dablam that gave the mountain its name broke off killing six climbers. “Ama Dablam means mother’s necklace, and a chunk of this big block of ice collapsed and thundered down,” says environmentalist and entrepreneur Dawa Steven Sherpa. “We are not just losing our mountains but a large part of our identity and what they mean to us.”Researchers have made similar observations in the Karakoram in Pakistan, in the Tibetan Plateau, Bhutan and India where the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-mountains-are-melting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">permafrost is melting and glaciers receding</a>.“In the past, glaciers in the Karakoram were more stable than elsewhere in the Himalaya … but now even these glaciers have started melting,” says Pakistani remote sensing specialist Sher Muhammad, who is with the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).Accelerated melting has also meant that the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/danger-nepals-glacial-lakes-are-filling-up/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">number of glacial lakes is increasing</a>. Nepal’s longest glacier, Ngozumpa below Mt Cho Oyu, now resembles Swiss cheese, riddled with melt pools and debris. Imja Glacier has turned into a glacial lake in just 30 years.“Imja didn’t used to be a lake, it used to be a solid glacier,” adds Dawa Sherpa. “My father camped on the glacier 60 years ago with a Japanese expedition. Today, we need a rubber boat to be where he was back then.”There are 3,252 glacial lakes in Nepal, and they are shrinking three times faster than in 1998. Many of these are filling up with melt water and are in danger of bursting. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tracing-past-glacial-floods-in-kangchenjunga/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs)</a> are a threat not just to human settlements but to infrastructure projects, many of them hydropower plants which are built along rivers downstream.The massive debris flow on the Melamchi River in June 2021 that killed at least 30 people, submerged settlements, and nearly destroyed Nepal’s biggest infrastructure project to supply water to Kathmandu, was caused by a heavy monsoon downpour bringing down glacial sediments no longer cemented by permafrost.While melting mountains are more visible, many more people are affected across the Himalaya by springs going dry and reduced flow on rivers. People are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-must-prepare-for-climate-migration/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">abandoning villages and homesteads</a> because of prolonged droughts and dry springs.Women left behind are having to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/women-and-water/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">shoulder the burden</a> of household chores including fetching water from further away, even as there is less water to irrigate terrace farms. In parts of Nepal, this has led to an increase in child marriage and the school dropout rate for girls, undermining the country’s past gains.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/global-heating-melts-mountains/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Forests replace glaciers in the Himalaya</a>, Tufan Neupane<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100128/63bfd35a9c7e80680e0d3058jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="4288" height="2848"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The theme of this year's International Mountain Day on 11 December is 'Women Move Mountains'. Climate change in the mountains is not just a crisis but also an opportunity to empower women and local communities.From rainwater harvesting, reviving ponds, and drip irrigation to planting sugarcane and Napier grass on riverbanks to reduce flood risks, there are many successful examples in Nepal of local adaptation.But much like air pollution, tackling the impact of climate change in the Himalaya needs a cross-border and regional collaboration. In fact, worsening regional air pollution is leading to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-terrifying-assessment-of-himalayan-melting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">an acceleration in melting</a>.Black carbon and soot particles from vehicular emission, industries and fires are reaching higher altitudes and increasing the melt rate of glaciers already thawing due to global warming.Says <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/we-have-not-respected-the-fragility-of-the-himalaya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ICIMOD Director General Pema Gyamtsho</a> from Bhutan: “We need to put more focus on building transboundary cooperation. That has always been our mandate, but I think now, we need to fast forward these initiatives.”The Himalaya has more biodiversity than any other place on earth because of its elevation and moisture range. Researchers say this makes it an extraordinary place for species to flourish. But climate change is impacting on this diversity of plant and animal life that have evolved in the sensitive mountain ecosystem. Many have never been studied and could have immense medicinal and utilitarian value.The recently concluded <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/make-or-break-climate-summits/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">COP27 Climate Summit in Egypt</a> agreed on a mechanism to compensate poorer countries for loss and damage from climate change, but fell short of required decarbonisation targets. There is now serious doubt if global average temperature can be limited to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.Scientists and governments are meeting in Montréal this week to find ways to avert what they call the 'sixth extinction' -- the largest loss of biodiversity in the planet since the meteorite strike that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Some of this is due to the climate crisis, but human settlements and consumption is also destroying habitats. Just as at COP27 in Egypt, the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Montréal will also set targets for the global biodiversity framework.Himalayan geographer Alton C Byers who has been studying the impact of climate change on the ecosystem of the Kangchenjunga region warns: “People think mountains are invulnerable, invincible. They are not, they are some of the most fragile ecosystems in the world which is why we need to give them special consideration and protection.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/mountain-women-on-the-climate-frontlines/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mountain women on the climate frontlines</a>, Torun Dramdal and Pema Gyamtsho

The climate crisis is a water crisis in the Himalaya

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022120710128/639058599c7e80680e0ce19ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="637" height="358"/><figcaption>Dhey village, Nepal. Photos: TASHI BISTA</figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022120710128/6390585b9c7e80680e0ce19bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="768" height="432"><figcaption>The main street in Chambaleh.</figcaption></figure>When reporters want to depict the impacts of the climate crisis, they go to what was once the trans-Himalayan village of Dhe (pictured above).Located in Mustang, the arid district in Nepal that juts out into Tibet and is in the Himalayan rain shadow, Dhe village has been featured in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/05/world/asia/nepal-himalayas-glacier-climate.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/05/world/asia/nepal-himalayas-glacier-climate.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1668518906226000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0h9mNvQ4yojIJGxYWte7r5">The New York Times</a>, dissected by <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324037977_Climate_change_adaptation_measure_on_agricultural_communities_of_Dhye_in_Upper_Mustang_Nepal" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324037977_Climate_change_adaptation_measure_on_agricultural_communities_of_Dhye_in_Upper_Mustang_Nepal&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1668518906226000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0hAC6emznGp1IuTSTdhqwm">researchers</a>, filmed by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCW4rZBYEP4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DVCW4rZBYEP4&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1668518906226000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2v3fa889H7M0EG8V9bt0Xv">international documentary makers</a>, and this newspaper did <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBPfkPQT0CE" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DLBPfkPQT0CE&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1668518906226000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1-Q9WgKXeNsGsaRUFzUTmr">a multimedia package</a> on Dhe as far back as 2016.But none of these outputs have been by a Mustang native until Tashi Bista produced his film <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gOQLA5bQ6E" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3D5gOQLA5bQ6E&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1668518906226000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2WNMYtEL1ofTK8fNvjwBIv">When Glaciers Go</a> in 2020, which profiles the inhabitants of Dhe (also spelled Dhye, or Dhey).The activist shows how a chronic water shortage caused by climate breakdown forced Dhe's relocation to a new village, Chambaleh. When Glaciers Go premiered in 2020 at the Mountain Film Festival in Telluride and was selected for the 2020 Banff Mountain Film Festival.Thanks to Bista’s film and extensive news coverage in Nepal and abroad, Dhe is one of the best-documented examples of climate migration. The immediate impact of glacial retreat, springs going dry, and prolonged winter drought in the high altitude desert region limits livelihood options for inhabitants of this fragile and harsh region.The local government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) supported Dhe’s relocation to newly developed homes and apple orchards. But many members of Dhe’s older generation find it difficult to be uprooted from their ancestral homes and traditional livelihoods.As a result, inter-generational nuclear families have split. Tashi Bista’s When Glaciers Go shows the struggle families now face traveling to-and-from Dhe to balance building new economic opportunities with maintaining strong familial ties. Despite these hurdles, the film instills viewers with a strong sense of optimism for Upper Mustang and Nepal’s rapidly changing Himalayan landscape.As world leaders tried to hammer out a new deal to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions at COP27, it is clear that human mobility driven by climate change has been happening for some time already.Nepali Times spoke to filmmaker Tashi Bista about climate migration in the Himalaya as he continues to explore and document the crisis.Nepali Times: When do people decide to move due to climate change?Tashi Bista: Climate migration started about 10 years ago in Nepal’s Annapurna Conservation Area (ACAP). I first started hearing about Dhe and the water shortage there after volunteering for a micro-finance project organised by UNDP and ACAP. From one year to the next, it’s quite hard to tell how much the water levels truly fluctuate but it is possible to track social conflict over water resources.There was, for example, conflict over who gets to water crops first and how much water could be used. Dhe’s springs and reservoirs kept drying and, as conflict became more intense, the first families began to leave. In another village, <a href="https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/agriculture/high-and-dry-in-nepal-51227" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/agriculture/high-and-dry-in-nepal-51227&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1668518906226000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3kPfaKgjVrNtyD3ElKPmOT">Samzong</a>, people were forced to move after flash floods battered homes with debris as rainfall patterns have become more unpredictable in the past 15 years or so.https://youtu.be/eHNBhDSHM7EHave you and people in Upper Mustang perceived a change in climate?When I was growing up, there was less rain, temperatures did not fluctuate so dramatically, and glacial meltwater allowed people to irrigate their land in spring. When I was a child, Upper Mustang didn’t even have apples but warmer temperatures at higher altitudes have now enabled people to set up orchards. In addition, migratory birds flew over our villages during the harvest, but now they migrate much later since it does not get colder until later in the year. There are locusts and other bugs that never before reached Upper Mustang, and there is much less snow. It is very clear that the climate is changing.Do you believe that migration is a necessary adaptation strategy?People do not want to move, and they are emotionally shocked that they must. In When Glaciers Go, we tried to film the family tension as the grandparents stayed in Dhe but the younger generation wanted to move so that they had better livelihood options. Adapting to climate change in the same place would be ideal, but we do not yet possess the technology or knowledge to ensure quality of life in a climate-stressed environment.Why does the older generation want to stay on? Mostly, grandparents decide to stay because they cannot leave their livestock and ancestral homes. They don’t want to move after living their entire lives in the same place. Families try to travel back and forth often while the grandparents take care of the livestock. Others travel abroad and send remittances back to their families.How can society combat the climate crisis? Climate change and the need to move due to water scarcity or other climate stressors is a global phenomenon so much larger than a small village in the Himalaya. People do not want to give up their daily comforts across the globe to confront climate change, but the sacrifices are small if we act globally- turn off your lights, take shorter showers, etc.Is there government support for climate migrants?There are no subsidies for moving. The government doesn’t have a budget for climate migrants or climate change because it prioritizes education, social security, etc. When climate impacts the economy, the government may help but climate migration has not had a major economic impact yet. However, it will.How do you stay optimistic in the environmental science field?I’m quite positive for Nepal, because Nepal can easily promote the local market and we have a strong sense of community. We will fall into our own hands.What are you working on now?I continue to document climate migration in the Himalaya. I am working with a foreign film team to chronicle human-wildlife conflict post-migration in Samzong, where snow leopards now target livestock as so few people live in the original village.Watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gOQLA5bQ6E" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3D5gOQLA5bQ6E&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1668518906226000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2WNMYtEL1ofTK8fNvjwBIv">When Glaciers Go</a> here. Also watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBPfkPQT0CE" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DLBPfkPQT0CE&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1668518906226000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1-Q9WgKXeNsGsaRUFzUTmr">High and Dry</a>, a Nepali Times video from 2016.

Climate migration is already happening

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413114/63722f9a9c7e80680e0c2524jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"/><figcaption>All photos: ACHYUT TIWARI</figcaption></figure>The Chure or Siwalik Range is the first of several folds of mountains that rise from Gangetic plains up to the highest peaks in the world.The Chure extends east-west for more than 1,600km from the Tista River, across Nepal,  northwestern India, and into northern Pakistan, rising to an average elevation of about 1,000m.In Nepal, the Chure hills cover about 13% of the country’s total area, and is geologically and ecologically fragile. It is rich in biodiversity and provides ecosystem services to millions of people in the Nepal Tarai and India.Population growth and migration have reduced the Chure’s forest cover, with human encroachment, forest fires, sand excavation, stone quarries, all adding to the destruction.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/hiding-their-head-in-the-sand/">Hiding their head in the sand</a>, Ramu Sapkota<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413114/63722f9d9c7e80680e0c2525jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="720" height="960"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413114/63722f9f9c7e80680e0c2526jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="720" height="960">The Nepal government launched the President’s Chure Conservation Program in 2011 to protect this fragile landscape, with the Chure Tarai-Madhesh Conservation Development Board implementing various activities for its sustainable conservation and restoration.The Chure started rising from the plains 40 million years ago as the Himalayan mountains were thrust upwards. The range varies in elevation and width, being narrowest and lowest in the east, and highest and broadest in the west.In the east, the Chure directly adjoins the Mahabharat Range in some places, while further west it is often separated by broad valleys of the Inner Tarai (Bhitri Madesh). In some places, the Chure itself bifurcates into two ranges with valleys in between, like in Dang and Deukhuri.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/business-bureaucracy-and-politicians-all-plundering-the-chure/">“Business, bureaucracy and politicians all plundering the Chure”</a>, Nepali Times<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413118/63722fa29c7e80680e0c2527jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640">The Chure is made up of soft, very erodible sediments that form gullies and sharp ridges. Because of its fragile geomorphology and lack of water the Chure was in the past sparsely populated with few settlements. But since the 1980s, there has been migration into the region leading to forests being converted to farms and pastures.The Chure landscape in Nepal is the home to mega-fauna like the tiger, elephant, rhinoceros, wild buffalo and many other flagship species. The region is the home to over 41 species of mammals, 379 varieties of birds (43% of the total bird species in Nepal), 24 species of amphibians and 75 species of reptiles, 279 species of butterflies, and 104 species of fish.There is now a network of protected areas in Tarai-Chure including the Kosi Tappu, Chitwan National Park, Bardia National Park, Parsa National Park, Banke National Park, Sukla Phanta as well as wildlife corridors linking them to conservation areas in the Mahabharat as well as in India. The Chure alone has dozens of the 118 ecological systems that have been identified in Nepal. The Chure’s fragile geology makes it prone to landslides, flood and erosion. But with the forest cover gone due to cultivation, settlements, wildfires and sand-boulder mining, it becomes even more vulnerable. All these factors are further exacerbated by the climate crisis leading to extreme weather.Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/crushing-tale-of-Chure">Crushing tale of the Chure</a>, Sameen Raut and Dinesh Panthi<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413118/63722fa49c7e80680e0c2528jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="720" height="960"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413118/63722fa79c7e80680e0c2529jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="720" height="960">The whole Nepal, including Chure, has a prolonged dry period lasting from September to June. Climate change has extended the drought, or brought excessive unseasonal rainfall. As it is, the monsoon rains are intense and tend to be even more destructive wherever the Chure is denuded.Wildfires then destroy what is left of the vegetation, and are mostly human-induced. The protection and conservation of the Chure landscape is important not just for the people living there, but also because of magnified impact on farms and towns downstream.Read also:<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/drawing-a-line-in-the-sand/"> Drawing a line in the sand</a>, Bhrikuti Rai Achyut Tiwari is plant ecologist at Central Department of Botany, Tribhuvan University and recently conducted forest ecosystem assessment outside protected areas of Chure landscape in Nepal.

Why is it vital to protect the Chure?

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412118/6372226e9c7e80680e0c02f6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1776" height="1000"/><figcaption>Soot and dust particles from pollution that settle on the Khumbu Glacier makes it melt faster. Photo: EELUM DIXIT.</figcaption></figure>Fine suspended particles in the air have reached harmful levels, and are reducing the average lifespan of people in urban Nepal by at least two years. Now, scientists have found that pollution is also causing Himalayan glaciers to melt faster than earlier thought.The role of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/things-are-up-in-the-air-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dust particles</a> is said to be an important driver in reducing the reflectivity of snow and ice, so that they absorb more sunlight and melt faster. And there is more dust blowing into the mountains because of desertification, changing agricultural practices, intense storms, and dust being blown off mountain slopes that have lost snow cover.‘Because a majority of (Himalayan) snowmelt is generated from seasonal snowpack below 5,000m, dust deposition via elevated aerosol levels can cause a large snow surface albedo reduction and influence snowmelt,’ notes a new study in the science journal Nature. ‘Moreover, the influence of dust on snow darkening is greater than that of black carbon above 4,000m.’<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412118/637222719c7e80680e0c02f7jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Greenhouse gas buildup in the atmosphere is set to raise global average temperatures by at least 2°C above pre-industrial levels by 2050, and this is still the main reason Nepal’s glaciers are receding and shrinking. But controlling soot particles and reducing dust in the air could slow the process.The Nature study found that black carbon particles have a larger snow albedo darkening effect than dust because it is darker. But dust contributes more to melting because there is up to 1,000 times more of it than soot.“Temperatures are increasing faster in the Himalaya, this makes weather conditions more unstable prompting long distance transport of dust and other particles more likely,” explains climate scientist Binod Pokharel. The new study now confirms that the role of dust deposit in melting Himalayan ice is greater than previously thought.Now that the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/post-disaster-lessons-for-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">monsoon is here</a>, people in Kathmandu Valley find it easier to breathe since the air quality index (AQI) is better. But vehicular emissions and brick kiln smoke keep the concentration of suspended soot particles in the air at unhealthy levels.Dirtier air increases the incidence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer, bronchitis, stroke, mental retardation and congenital heart defects. Particles less than 2.5 microns are especially dangerous because they can cross the air-blood barrier in the lung capillaries.Previous studies on Langtang Glacier showed that while global warming was still the main cause of melting, up to 20% of the defrosting was due to snow darkening because of soot deposition.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412118/637222749c7e80680e0c02f8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="644" height="376"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/it-is-getting-hotter-on-the-roof-of-the-world/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Himalaya is already warming</a> up to 0.7°C faster than the global average, and these suspended particles are increasing the rate of melting. What is new in the research is that dust particles are more responsible than black carbon from pollution simply because there is more of it.Black carbon in soot from diesel exhaust, thermal power plants, brick kilns and wildfires are transported by wind to glaciers and snowfields, darkening them and making them absorb more sunlight.Now, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-change-is-a-disaster-in-the-nepal-himalaya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">climate change</a> is triggering more intense sand and dust storms and prevailing winds during the pre-monsoon and carrying them over long distances to deposit them in the high Himalaya.But it is not only the origin of dust but the concentration and composition of the pollutant that makes a difference on how it adds to the climate crisis, says meteorologist Namindra Dahal.For example, suspended particles over cities in India and China have greater inorganic fossil fuel components, while dust being blown in from the Arabian desert have more mineral content. Prevailing winds are from the west for nine months in a year, and blow in sand and soot from West Asia and India to Nepal.Studies have shown that water in Nepal’s lakes and rivers at higher elevations already have greater concentrations of dust and carbon particles.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412118/637222769c7e80680e0c02f9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="644" height="412"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“In the past, the air was clean but its composition has changed over the years and that has become a matter of concern due to suspended particles it constitutes, including dust,” explains Dahal. “And all this <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-doubles-its-carbon-footprint/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">pollution</a> ultimately ends up in the Himalaya, making it melt even faster.”At the current rate of melting, and if nothing is done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, two-thirds of Himalayan ice will be gone by the turn of the century, studies have forecast.This week, Nepal’s delegation at the UN Climate Conference in Bonn once again urged the developed world to address loss and damage caused by the climate crisis, help the country adapt to extreme weather and prevent <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/danger-nepals-glacial-lakes-are-filling-up/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">glacial lake outburst floods</a>.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412118/637222789c7e80680e0c02fajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>However, Nepal must also show a commitment to reducing the increased amount of suspended soot and dust in the air — not just to slow melting of the mountains but also to lessen public health risk. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/air-pollution-is-more-dangerous-than-smoking/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Respiratory problems</a> caused by air pollution alone killed nearly 45,000 people in Nepal in 2019.Switching to electric public transport and battery-powered two-wheelers would not just clean up the air, but also use surplus hydropower and reduce Nepal’s petroleum import bill.While much of air pollution is indeed <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/how-transboundary-haze-affects-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">transboundary in nature</a>, but increasingly it is local emissions that worsen the impact on public health and make glaciers melt faster.Says Namindra Dahal: “Just look at our roads, the dust is killing people and it is killing the mountains. Unless we do our part we have no moral right to demand compensation on the global stage.”

Dirty snow defrosts Nepal’s mountains

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412114/6372213a9c7e80680e0c02a6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="4000" height="2252"/><figcaption>Photo: EELUM DIXIT</figcaption></figure>Everest Base Camp sits on a glacier that is melting and on the move. It is now <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/on-thin-ice-in-the-khumbu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">50m lower than in 1953</a> when Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary were here on their way to climb the world’s highest mountain for the first time. Climbers have even reported pools of water on rocks on the South Col at 8,000m.Global warming is heating up the planet, but scientists say the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-terrifying-assessment-of-himalayan-melting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">temperature in the Himalaya is rising</a> twice as fast as the global average. The debris-covered Khumbu Glacier has unusual ice sculptures: arches, pinnacles and an enormous black rock sitting on top of an ice column 5m high.But it is all here today, gone tomorrow. Carved by <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-change-is-a-disaster-in-the-nepal-himalaya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">climate change</a>, the columns melt and arches collapse. Base Camp travels slowly southwards on the moving ice, paths between expedition tents disappear during the night as the glacier grunts and growls in its sleep like a gigantic reptile.New surprise: a river now runs through camp. It freezes at night and by the time the sun comes up from behind the West Shoulder every morning, it is a fast-flowing gurgling brook.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/letters-from-base-camp-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Letters from Base Camp 2</a>, Eelum DixitOne climber said he wept when he saw that the stream actually originates in the Khumbu Icefall. We wonder how long it will take for the icefall to turn into a waterfall. All this is happening right around us, and because of us.“This glacial stream is getting bigger and bigger every year, its flow is alarming,” says Khim Lal Gautam, a civil servant and surveyor who has climbed Mt Everest twice, the last time in 2019 as part of the team that measured the true height of the summit at 8848.86m.The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/mt-everest-city/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">overcrowded Base Camp</a> with all its kitchen tents, gas cookers and waste is making things worse, and Gautam says it should be moved beyond the glacier to Kala Pattar. “Imagine how much damage we are doing to the glacier just by being here,” he adds.https://youtu.be/iMKRC7oZhpYSpring climbing on Mt Everest has ended, and it has been a season of new records. Unusually long weather windows and above average temperatures meant that a record 650 people out of the more than 800 permits issued got to the top.But no matter how many clients and guides summit the mountain, there is one glaring thing that hits everyone at Base Camp as the sun comes up: the mountains are changing, and change is accelerating.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/letters-from-everest-base-camp-1/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Letters from Base Camp 1</a>, Eelum DixitIt is not difficult to calculate the carbon footprint of a large Everest expedition staying for two months at Base Camp. The livelihoods of expedition guides and  porters are important, but we have to ask what those summit photographs cost the planet. What of all those helicopter ferry flights, the LPG cylinders in the kitchen tents?The translucent seracs on Nuptse glow blue as the sun climbs higher, layers of ice that have accumulated over centuries being drawn down by gravity to the glacier below. Besides the spring thaw that melts winter snow, it is now also this permanent ice that is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/human-face-of-a-himalayan-climate-crisis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">rapidly turning into water</a>.Most of the melting is due to global warming, but the ice is melting faster because it is <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19368" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">covered in soot and dust particles</a> from pollution brought up by wind from the south. What remains of the Lobuje Glacier is dirty ice.Many had hoped that the three month climbing season would allow the mountain to recuperate during the rest of the year. But the damage is more and more severe every year, so the Himalaya needs a break.

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Why is it vital to protect the Chure?

Dirty snow defrosts Nepal’s mountains

Here today, gone tomorrow