The Switzerland-based World Wide Fund for Nature or WWF says in
a report that the rate of retreat of glaciers is accelerating
because of global warming, and has now reached 10-15 meters a
year.
The rapid melting of glaciers in the Asian mountain range will
initially cause flooding but subsequently lead to lower water
levels in rivers, creating massive economic and environmental
problems in western China, Nepal and northern India.
In China, the report says, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau's wetlands
have seen declining lake water levels, lake shrinkage, and the
degradation of swampland.
Professor Shen Yongping, a research fellow with the Chinese
Academy of Sciences, has conducted an overview of retreating
glaciers and their impact on the plateau.
He says the glacier retreat in the past 20 to 30 years is
unprecedented.
"The retreat of glaciers in the past twenty to thirty years
equals that of two to three hundred years before, which means
changes which were slow before are now rapid. And the sharp change
to the water supply to the rivers will mean a major crisis for
agricultural irrigation and hydropower projects in the downstream
areas."
Professor Shen Yongping also warns that these changes will cause
either floods or droughts in these areas.
Himalayan glaciers feed into seven of Asia's biggest rivers,
including China's Yangtze and Yellow Rivers.
They ensure a year-round water supply to hundreds of millions of
people in China and the Indian sub-continent.
(CRI March 15, 2005)