Of the 2,323 glacial lakes in Nepal, 20 are under threat from global warming, The Himalayan Times reported on Friday.
According to the United Nations Environment Program, one-third of the Himalayas lie in Nepal. Due to global warming, temperature in the Himalayas has been increasing by 0.06 degrees celsius every year.
The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology said, the Shorang glacier is shrinking at the rate of 10 meter per year due to the rising temperature.
The Trakarding glacier, which feeds the Tsho Rolpa glacial lake in western Nepal, shrunk by 100 meters in the last decade. As a result, the Tsho Rolpa lake has expanded to 1.4 square km from 0. 23 square km.
No different is the situation of other glacial lakes. "Glacial retreat can cause floods and landslides, scarcity of drinking water, loss of habitat and biodiversity and Glacier Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF)," Jeevan Thapa, chairperson of the Youth Network of Social and Environmental Development, told the daily.
Over 188 countries ratified the policies, strategies and future plans of the climate change in the Kyoto Protocol on February 16, 2005.
Nepal is the only South Asian country that is signatory to the protocol.
Madan Koirala of the Central Department of Environment Science under the Tribhuvan University said though Nepal contributes 0.025 percent of the total greenhouse gas emission, it is highly vulnerable to the hazards of climate change.
"The government should focus on the clean energy mechanism to minimize greenhouse emission," he said, calling on the world community to accord top priority to emission control measures. |
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