Climate change, pollution, construction: ‘Multiple whammy to fuel more Sikkim-like disasters’

Agencies, 22 Oct 2023, NEW DELHI: Rising temperatures, glacial melt, heavy rainfall... The multiplier effect of climate change combined with untrammelled construction and pollution to wreak havoc in Sikkim, say scientists, warning that more such disasters in the Himalayas could be in the offing with the rise in the number of glacial lakes. 

As Sikkim picks up the pieces following flash floods that saw many thousands being displaced, major infrastructure projects destroyed and scores of people killed earlier this month, experts said other Himalayan states, including Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, are susceptible to similar glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF). 

A GLOF is a catastrophic deluge triggered by the failure of a moraine dam containing a glacial lake. “Vulnerable areas include Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, and Arunachal Pradesh, where numerous glacial lakes are rapidly expanding due to climate change,” environmental expert Anjal Prakash said. 

According to environmental engineer Mohammed Farooq Azam, climate change is working in two ways. 

“First, global warming is resulting in glacier wastage that is more pronounced post-2000 in the Himalayan region. The receding glaciers are leaving depressions where they terminate. These depressions are filled with meltwater and produce pro-glacial lakes, which are often held by the fragile natural dams. 

These lakes in turn enhance glacier wastage and are growing in size as well as numbers with ongoing global warming,” he explained. “Further, climate change is also resulting in extreme weather conditions,” Azam, associate professor at the Indian Institute of Technology-Indore, added. 

The frequency of extreme precipitation and heat waves is increasing, making pro-glacial lakes more vulnerable to breaches. This was the case in the 2013 Kedarnath disaster where the Chorabari pro-glacial lake was completely breached and that is probably what happened in Sikkim too, Azam said. 

Half the Earth’s 215,000 glaciers are expected to melt by the end of the century, even if global warming is limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius, revealed a study published in the journal Nature, underscoring the criticality of the situation. 

This alarming revelation comes alongside another concerning statistic: the volume of glacial lakes has surged by 50 per cent in just 30 years, according to a 2020 study based on satellite data. Climate scientist Roxy Mathew Koll warned that the likelihood of cloudbursts, heavy rainfall, landslides, and glacial outbursts has markedly increased, especially over mountainous regions, in a swiftly warming world. 

https://www.millenniumpost.in/nation/climate-change-pollution-construction-multiple-whammy-to-fuel-more-sikkim-like-disasters-537657?infinitescroll=1