Hindu Kush Himalayan Mountains | 10 Jun 2021

Why in News

According to UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) mountain ranges could lose up to two-third of its ice by 2100.

• About 2 billion people may face food, water shortages by 2100.

Key Points

• About HKH Region:
  
  • It is often referred to as the ‘Third Pole’, on earth, is spread over 3,500 square kms across eight countries including India, Nepal and China.
  • It contains the world’s third-largest storage of frozen water after Antarctica and the Arctic.
  • Over 240 million people live in the region’s mountains. 1.7 billion live in the river basins downstream, while food grown in these basins reaches three billion people.
  • The glaciers feed at least 10 major river systems, which have bearings on agricultural activities, drinking water and hydroelectricity production in the region.

• Challenges:
  
  • According to ICIMOD’s (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development) 2019 assessment, the HKH region will continue to warm through the 21^st century even if the world is able to limit global warming at the agreed 1.5 degrees Celsius.
    
    • The Paris agreement aims to substantially reduce global greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to limit the global temperature increase in this century to 2 degrees Celsius above pre industrial levels, while pursuing the means to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees.
  • In the future, even if global warming is kept to 1.5 degrees C above the pre-industrialisation levels, warming in the HKH region is likely to be at least 0.3 degrees C higher, and in the northwest Himalaya and Karakoram at least 0.7 degrees C higher.
• Threat:
  
  • High Mountain Asia (the Asian mountain ranges surrounding the Tibetan Plateau) will lose a substantial part of its cryosphere in the next decades and thus a substantial part of its water storage abilities. This will lead to increased water stress in high mountain areas.
    
    • A cryosphere comprises portions of Earth’s surface where water is in solid form, including sea ice, lake ice, river ice, snow cover, glaciers, ice caps, ice sheets, etc.
• Causes for the Melting of Glaciers:
  
  • The melting is driven by larger anthropogenic modifications (i.e. influenced by humans) of the atmosphere.
  • The HKH region lies downwind from some of the most heavily polluted places on Earth. This threatens agriculture, climate as well as monsoon patterns.
• Recommendations:
  
  • It is recommended to shift away from fossil fuel use in energy, transport, and other sectors, while changing diets and agricultural practices to move to net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases.
  • The countries in the region need to reduce emissions of black carbon and other air pollutants as well.
• Suggested Policies and Actions to Mitigate the Problem:
  
  • Farmers will need support to design and invest in locally-appropriate water storage solutions, or to shift to agricultural practices that consume less water.
  • Designs of new hydropower plants and grids will need to take into account the changing climate and water availability.
  • Data and information, capacity-building and early warning systems and infrastructure design will need to be improved. This calls for sufficient funding and large-scale coordination.
• Related Initiative Taken by India:
  
  • National Mission on Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE) is one of the eight missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).
  • The mandate is to evolve measures to sustain and safeguard the Himalayan glaciers, mountain ecosystems, biodiversity and wildlife conservation & protection.

Source: DTE