Melting Glaciers, Irregular Climate Threats to India’s Monsoon

The work titled 10 New Discoveries in Climate Science, published at the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, warns that melting glaciers and an erratic monsoon pattern are two of the most visible signs of global warming in and around this country. located in South Asia.

Researchers from Future Earth, The Earth League, and the World Climate Research Program say this scenario affects water supplies, especially in dry conditions.

The Himalayas provide water for 1.3 billion people near the 10 major Asian river basins.

The lack of water resources increases the vulnerability of agriculture to global warming and affects the food security and health of a large number of the population.

India has three major rivers in the Himalayas, namely the Indus in the northwest, the Ganges in the north and east, and the Brahmaputra in the northeast.

The states in the north, east, northeast, and northwest of the country are largely dependent on these three streams and their tributaries, and reduced flow of these rivers could affect agriculture and fishing communities.

Aditi Mukherjee, one of the authors of the paper, says receding glaciers reduce the availability of water in rivers and endanger hydropower projects in the Himalayan region due to potential floods and avalanches.

This process leads to the formation and development of glacial lakes, and the rupture of these pools can cause devastating floods in the mountainous regions downstream.

To reduce dependence on fossil fuels, whose emissions are the main cause of global warming, there are hydroelectric projects from 500 megawatts (MW) to 1800 MW of installed capacity, under construction or planned in the Indian states of Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, and in the territories of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.

Mukherjee said the decrease in water flow due to retreating glaciers will affect the Sindh region more than the Ganges and Brahmaputra regions, as the former relies more on glaciers, while the latter two regions desperately need water from monsoon rains.

M / appm