The glacial burst in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand is nature’s way of telling humans that it can strike back when the ecological balance is destroyed. That may sound mystical but the stone quarrying, blasting of mountains and digging of tunnels in the base of the fragile mountain system for the two back-to-back under-construction dams on Rishi Ganga and Dhauli Ganga rivers, despite warning by experts and ecologists, had played havoc with the local ecology.
Climate change has been blamed for an increase in the intensity and frequency of floods in Nepal.
A report published by the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) said that 36% of the volume of glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region will be gone by the end of 2100 even if the world manages to keep the temperature rise within 1.5 degrees Celsius target of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.
Though the disaster region may not strictly fall in the HKH, its findings confirm what has been said in various studies on faster melting of glaciers feeding the perennial Ganga from the upper reaches of Uttarakhand and China.
The data from the Indian Space Research Organisation’s resource centre on Himalayan glaciers reveals that melting of the glaciers in Central Himalayan catchment area, where Chamoli falls, has increased in the first 20 years of this century.
A research based on the study of 650 glaciers spanning 2,000 kms and published in journal, Science Advances, in June 2019 showed that glacial melting has doubled since 2000 as compared to 1975-2000.
The faster melting of hundreds of Ganga glaciers would impact livelihood of close to 600 million people living in the Ganga river basin from Uttarakhand to Bangladesh, and India’s economy.
The impact of climate change on the stability of a mountain range is illustrated by the Himalayas, which are undergoing rapid changes. Flash floods are common in the vulnerable areas of these mountains, endangering those living in their valleys and disrupting their way of life.
Building roads through fragile mountain terrain and building the biggest dams with inadequate safety measures have led to flash floods in the central Himalayas, as evident from a recent tragedy in Mendhar town of Kishtwar district.
A man-made disaster that can strike anywhere with a simple flick of a switch. Hydropower is one of the most reliable forms of electricity but not entirely green. Built by private interests to exploit opportunities for profit, projects are under the care and control of few people and even fewer agencies like The Department of Energy or The Environmental Protection Agency.