<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>.

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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

Sonia Awale

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> </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.

Here today, gone tomorrow

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412114/6372210a9c7e80680e0c0298jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"/><figcaption>Gabions constructed by local lodge owners near Chukhung village in 2016, following an englacial flood from the Lhotse glacier in 2015. The embankment protected the village during a second flood in 2016. Photo: ALTON C BYERS</figcaption></figure>The development of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tracing-past-glacial-floods-in-kangchenjunga/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">glacial lakes from receding glaciers</a>, contained by either terminal moraines or bedrock, is commonly linked with global warming since the end of the Little Ice Age (LIA), and are thought to be increasing in number and size.Such lakes are prone to sudden and catastrophic drainage of their water which is known as <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/danger-nepals-glacial-lakes-are-filling-up/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">glacial lake outburst floods</a> (GLOFs). Dam breakage can result from rapid lake area expansion rates, dead-ice melting in moraines, destabilising seepage processes, sudden lake water level change, and surge waves created by rockfall or ice calving.The stored lake water that is released has caused <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-terrifying-assessment-of-himalayan-melting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">enormous death and devastation downstream</a>. However, there are a range of other cryospheric processes and hazards that are only beginning to receive attention. They, too, can result in landslides, debris flows, and/or other major glacier-related flood events.We focus on three of these lesser-known and poorly documented phenomena — englacial conduit floods, permafrost-linked rockfall, and debris flows. All three took place in the Nepal Himalaya during the past decade.Englacial Conduit Floods<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412114/6372210e9c7e80680e0c0299jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1421" height="900"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Debris-covered glaciers with gradients steeper than 2° are prone to meltwater drainage as opposed to the pooling and development of large glacial lakes. Consequently, they often develop a network of englacial conduits, or cave-like features, within the glacier itself.The conduits may be interconnected and linked to surficial meltwater ponds characteristic of stagnating and ablating debris-covered glaciers. These conduits are usually water filled during the summer months, contained within the glacier by an ice lens or dam located below the exterior debris cover. They are water free during the winter months.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 DixitFlood triggers can include the rapid drainage of a surficial meltwater pond directly into water-filled conduits, overland floods from high precipitation events, where floodwaters enter sinkholes that connect directly to the conduits, or the sudden discharge of water from one internal conduit to another.Retaining ice lenses can then fracture from the increased hydrostatic pressure, with flood waters emerging directly out of the glacier itself.The discharged water from multiple conduit outlets can then merge to create <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/more-himalayan-tsunamis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">significant downstream flood activity</a>, with peak discharges in the range of several hundred cubic meters per second.These floods, while considerably smaller than most known and recorded GLOFs, can nevertheless result in damage downstream.Permafrost-linked, Rockfall-induced GLOFs and Debris Flows<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412114/637221119c7e80680e0c029ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="732"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The impacts of global warming trends can be particularly conspicuous in glaciated landscapes, notably in the form of rapidly receding glaciers and the formation of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/living-below-nepals-melting-mountains/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">glacial lakes</a>.Growing evidence suggests that similar changes are also occurring at above 6,000m elevations with the thawing permafrost that can impact the mechanical strength and hydraulic permeability of high elevation rock faces.Rockfalls previously constrained by year-round frozen temperatures can set in motion a cascade of catastrophic processes below, including more rockfalls, debris flows, explosive impact with glaciers below in addition to triggering glacier-related floods downstream.On 20 April 2017, a flood on the Barun Valley in the Makalu-Barun National Park in eastern Nepal blocked the confluence of the Barun with the Arun River, resulting in a potentially dangerous 200m long lake.Our follow-up study during May-June 2017 revealed that the source of the flood was the &lt;0.1 km2 Langmale Glacial Lake. In spite of its small size, the estimated 1.3 × 106m3volume flood caused extensive downstream damage to forests, pastureland, and some infrastructure down to the flood’s attenuation point in Yangle Kharka.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 NeupaneHowever, instead of the flood trigger being a snow or ice avalanche into the lake, the cause turned out to be a massive, high altitude breakage of solid rock from the east face of Saldim Peak (6,388 m). The debris landslide plummeted 1,200m down to the Langmale Glacier, creating a massive explosion upon impact characterised by a dust cloud and hurricane-force winds.A 1.1 million m3 debris flow of ice, debris, and sediment then cascaded directly into the Saldim Glacial Lake below, triggering a hyper-concentrated slurry outburst flood that grew progressively larger and more destructive as it continued down valley.Similar processes are thought to have triggered <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Anatom-of-a-Himalayan-tsunami,1330" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the 2012 Seti flood near Pokhara</a> that killed 70 people, and 2021 Chamoli flood in Uttarakhand that left 300 dead and destroyed several under construction hydropower projects.Swiss permafrost specialist Wilfried Haeberli, using recent examples from the Swiss Alps, Cordillera Blanca in Peru, and Mt Everest region of Nepal, believes that the probability of similar flood events will continue to increase with the continued formation of new glacial lakes below high mountains.Earthquake-induced GLOFs<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412114/637221149c7e80680e0c029bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1340" height="1026"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Seismic activity is a <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/melting-mountains-shake,3073" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">potential trigger of GLOFs</a>. The fragile and unconsolidated nature of most terminal moraines means they can be easily damaged during earthquakes, releasing water downstream.Following the 25 April 2015 earthquake, a team of international remote sensing specialists from the University of Arizona mapped 4,312 landslides to identify potential hazards. They surveyed 491 glacier lakes for earthquake damage, finding nine landslide-impacted lakes but no visible satellite evidence of GLOFs. The lack of GLOFs was attributed to the impacted region’s extreme topography, which may have played a role in buffering the potentially destructive impact of the shock waves.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/langtang-copes-with-quake-and-covid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">An earthquake-triggered avalanche</a> of ice and rock was dislodged from the Langmoche Glacier above Dig Tso glacial lake in 2015 in the Khumbu. The avalanche created a 4.2–8.2m seiche wave and small outburst flood within the Bhote Kosi downstream. Although the flood was largely contained within the river channel, several bridges were destroyed.Dig Tso first experienced major GLOF activity on 4 August 1985, as a result of a similar ice avalanche from the Langmoche Glacier. A resulting avalanche created a surge wave that breached the terminal moraine, unleashing an estimated 5 million m3 of water that killed five people and  caused extensive damage downstream.The 2015 repeat event is important because it demonstrates that even though a glacial lake has already experienced an outburst flood, it can still be dangerous, subject to additional flooding activity in the future, and in need of regular monitoring.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412114/637221179c7e80680e0c029cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="1500"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Each of these phenomena need more detailed study to develop the most effective prevention, mitigation, and adaptation approaches possible. Such studies will most likely be strengthened if they include a on-site or remote sensing reconnaissance of the event as soon after its occurrence as possible, along with the participation, insights, and experience of local people.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/climate-risk-to-hydropower-investment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Large hydropower projects are particularly vulnerable</a> to the impacts of glacier floods, as has happened  repeatedly in recent years. Such projects need to plan for such catastrophic events, which have thus far been largely ignored within the pre-construction feasibility and environmental impact study process.Transboundary research and cooperation will also be essential to minimising the impacts of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/global-heating-melts-mountains/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">future GLOFs</a>, particularly along the Nepal-China border.If scientists can share the results of their research with decision-makers, more timely mitigation programs will be possible.Alton C Byers, PhD is a Senior Research Associate and Faculty at the Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), University of Colorado at Boulder. A scientific version of this article, recently published in Mountain Research and Development, can be downloaded for free<a href="https://bioone.org/journals/mountain-research-and-development/volume-42/issue-2/MRD-JOURNAL-D-21-00045.1/Three-Recent-and-Lesser-Known-Glacier-Related-Flood-Mechanisms-in/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-21-00045.1.full" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> here</a>. Byers is currently researching alpine ecosystems in the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area.

Nepal’s mountains are melting

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111152/63721e989c7e80680e0bd555jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"/><figcaption>The Kharola Glacier at 5,600m below Noijin Kangsang in Tibet in 2010. Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>The Tibetan Plateau is heating up faster than the global average due to climate change, and scientists say this will ultimately reduce the flow of Asia’s mighty rivers originating there.The plateau has an average elevation of 4,000m, is rimmed by the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tien Shan mountain ranges, and is called the ‘Third Pole’ because it has the largest store of frozen water on the planet after the polar regions.But the glaciers, snowfields and permanently frozen ground on the ‘roof of the world’ are thawing, making Tibet’s lakes bloat by 58.5 cubic km just in the past 40 years.“The plateau is filling up like a goblet. Its cryosphere is already undergoing a catastrophic and irreversible ecological shift, and the current direction of climate change in the next 50 years will directly impact the region and the world,” warns Martin Mills of the Scottish Centre for Himalayan Research.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/north-indian-heat-wave-hits-nepal/">North Indian heat wave hits Nepal</a>, Sonia Awale<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111152/63721e9b9c7e80680e0bd556jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="900"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Mills prepared a paper for the Scottish Parliament titled ‘Climate Change on the Third Pole’ that lays out the process and consequences of uncontrolled global heating on the plateau and regions downstream.The Tibetan Plateau is a hot spot in more ways than one — besides the effect of the climate crisis, it is also a geopolitically sensitive region with territorial disputes that erupt into frequent border skirmishes. There is little cooperation between countries that share the Himalayan watershed to study and mitigate the impact of climate change.The plateau is the source of the Indus and its tributaries that flow into the Arabian Sea, the Ganga and Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) that flows down to the Bay of Bengal, the Burmese rivers, the Mekong and China’s Yellow and Yangtze Rivers.When glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalaya melt in spring, their waters keep the rivers flowing in the dry season. However, because of climate change there will be less and less ice to feed these rivers in future.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/dalai-lama-gets-block-of-glacial-ice/">Dalai Lama gets block of glacial ice</a>, Nepali TimesThe plateau is warming 2-4 times faster than the global average, and its impact is already being seen in shrinking glaciers and expanding lakes. While those changes are visible, there is also the hidden thawing of the permafrost — the ‘underground icebergs’ beneath the plateau. When the frozen ground melts, it destabilises mountain slopes, leading to destructive landslides.“As snowfall turns into rain, the Tibetan Plateau is becoming progressively warmer and wetter,” Mills told the Dialogue for Our Future conference convened by the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala last week.He said the impact of these changes in the next 50 years will include increased flooding south of the Himalaya, desertification of river headlands in Tibet, loss of fresh water sources to mountain communities, and damage to infrastructure from permafrost melting.xithttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3drsc4GjSoThe main driver for these changes is warming of the planet’s atmosphere because of fossil fuel burning, but that is exacerbated by the deposition of ‘black carbon’ pollution particulates that makes the ice lose its reflectivity and melt even faster.The location and elevation of the Tibetan Plateau means there is a fragile balance in its water cycle — the accumulation of winter snow, melting ice in spring, and rain in the lower reaches during the monsoon. This process regulates water in the rivers so there is consistent flow through the year.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/government-for-the-future/">Government for the future</a>, Kunda DixitMore importantly, Himalayan glaciers keep rivers flowing in the dry season when water is needed most downstream. Nearly 20% of the annual flow of the Indus, for example, is glacier-fed, and it is 9% in the Ganga — but this is vital for agriculture and household because it comes down during the dry pre-monsoon months.‘The mean temperatures on the Tibetan Plateau are increasing at between 0.28-0.61o Celsius per decade, and this will significantly destabilise its capacity to regulate water supplies across the year, undermining regional water security of the wider continental area,’ the Scottish Centre for Himalayan Research says in its report.The report estimates that up to 1.4 billion people in northern India, Pakistan, south-east Asia, and 23% of the population of China depend on dry season meltwater from the Tibetan Plateau before the rainy season starts.‘The thawing of the cryosphere on the Tibetan Plateau presents a fundamental threat to human carrying capacity in many parts of Asia … and the impact of these hydrological shifts will be most strongly felt in the upper sections of those rivers,’ the report warns.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111152/63721e9e9c7e80680e0bd557jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="734" height="705"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Nepal’s main rivers mostly start from glaciers in southern Tibet, and their flow will also be impacted -- adding to the danger of trans-border glacial lake outburst floods.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/himalayans-on-the-frontlines/">Himalayans on the frontlines</a>, Ang Tshering SherpaClimate change models suggest that dry season flow of Himalayan rivers will actually increase as ice from ever higher elevations begin to melt, but with the glaciers all but gone, it will eventually slow to a trickle.Chinese scientists studying the plateau have estimated that the area under permafrost will be reduced by half between 2030-2050 if current warming trends continue. With the underground ice melting away, it is easier for surface water to seep into the soil rather than drain into rivers, further reducing dry season flow.“We can foresee water scarcity leading to food insecurity in Asia, as well as increased flood risk during the monsoon,” Diana Liverman, a professor at the University of Arizona who was co-author of the IPCC’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5o C.She told the Dharamsala conference: “The good news is that we have seen increasing action on adaptation, but there are limits to adaptation for people in countries that are dependent on glacier and snow melt.”Experts at the conference said that this means there is no option but to take drastic steps to halve global carbon emissions by 2030, eliminate the use of coal, further expand the shift to renewable energy, and reduce consumption.Read more: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/living-below-nepals-melting-mountains/">Living below Nepal’s melting mountains</a>, Alton C Byers