December 19, 2002	Thursday	Shawwal 14, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 18: The glacial lakes are swelling up in the Himalayan region so rapidly that they may overflow within five to ten years, threatening the lives of the people living in the valleys.

This was stated in a paper, titled “Integrated flood management in upper Indus Basin”, by Arjumand Hussain Wani, a renowned journalist from Indian held Kashmir. The paper was presented in his absence before the participants of a four-day regional media and policy workshop on “Fencing Floods in South Asia; Disaster Preparedness Through Risk Communication”.

The workshop has been organized by Intermediate Technology Development Group, South Asia, Journalists Resource Centre, Rural Development Policy Institute and Duryung Nivaran, South Asia, at a local hotel.

In his paper, Mr Wani said a recent study conducted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) had shown that the lakes being formed in the Himalayas and others mountain ranges because of global warming threatened the lives of tens of thousands of people.

He said, due to melting of high-altitude snowfields because of rise in temperature, lakes, directly fed by glaciers, were swelling in Nepal, Bhutan and Kashmir. For instance, the study has shown that 44 lakes were filling up quickly, he added.

Scientist working for the UNEP and International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development say more then 40 Himalayan lakes can soon overflow.

Findings indicate that 20 glacial lakes in Nepal and 24 in Bhutan have become potentially dangerous as a result of climatic changes. There is evidence that any one of these lakes can burst its banks in five to 10 years time, unless some safety measures are taken, Mr Wani stated in his paper.

He said a gigantic avalanche and flood came off the Annapuran Range in Nepal about 1,000 years ago and swept down the Seti river, depositing debris several hundred feet deep in a valley where the town of Pokhara is now located. A present, a similar avalanche may kill as many as 100,000 people, he added.

He said qualitative and quantitative degradation of the Siachen glacier had a direct bearing on the water flow in the Indus River. The militarisation of the glacier has adversely affected the ecology of the region, he added.