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THE SMART NEWS SOURCE | Feb 10 2010 05:29 | LAST UPDATED Feb 10 2010 05:29 |
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Rising winter temperatures are shrinking Himalayan glaciers in Indian Kashmir at "alarming" speeds, threatening water supplies to vast tracts of India and Pakistan, according to a new study. The Kolahoi glacier, the largest in the region, has shrunk by 2,63 square kilometres in the past three decades to just more than 11 square kilometres, said the study presented at a three-day international workshop on climate change that began on Monday in the Kashmiri summer capital Srinagar. Himalayan glaciers feed into Asia's nine largest rivers that flow to China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Burma. The Kolahoi glacier is shrinking 0,08 square kilometres a year, "which is an alarming speed", said the three-year study led by Shakil Ramsoo, associate professor of geology at Kashmir University. "Other small Kashmir glaciers are also shrinking and the main reason is that the winter temperature in Kashmir is rising," said the study, citing an increase of 1.1 degrees Celsius over the past 100 years. The quantity of snowfall in Kashmir, known as the "Switzerland of the East", has clearly fallen in recent decades. Despite occasional heavy snowfall, the inability of snow to freeze and develop into hard and longer-lasting crystals owing to higher temperatures has resulted in faster meltdown, say experts. "If you talk about Kashmir and you look at the statistics of climate change, it is melting faster here than any other place in the world," said Sally Dotre, an expert from Cambridge University. "And that's going to have a dramatic effect in Kashmir and Pakistan, because it is already affecting water levels," Dotre said.  CONTINUES BELOW Water levels in almost all the rivers in Indian Kashmir have decreased by two-thirds during the last 40 years. -- AFP TOPICS IN THIS ARTICLE
Comments
peter nel on October 15, 2009, 11:18 am
Well, Indian and Pakistan....and Bangladesh, can do themselves and the rest of the world a favour by enacting a 1 child policy. Overpopulation is the main reason for climate change.......water shortages, CO2 and GHG emissions are just consequences of overpopulation.
Khalsa Singh on October 15, 2009, 2:42 pm
Can I make a geographical correction Kashmiri is Indendent country that is under occupation.
And there has with all occupied countries it should be addressed has Kashmir or has occupied Kashmir.
Mahmood Fiaz on October 15, 2009, 5:32 pm
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If this comment is incorrect then why are there no comments on this astoundingly informative article, yet there are so many comments made on articles of such little importance such as the Nobel Peace Price rubbish!
It is of course too late to change our misdirected thinking - we are all consuming and will perish as a result of our ignorance!
Thou shalt have no gods before me - anyone remember those words?