“The melting of glaciers is not only depleting the water levels in most of the water bodies in the Union Territory but is also consequently putting under huge stress the agriculture economy and food security across Jammu & Kashmir.”
Kashmir is home to about 20,000 glaciers’ which are vital water sources supporting agriculture, horticulture, hydropower and several other key sectors of the economy. In fact almost every sector of the economy in J&K depends on glacier-fed water, making their preservation imperative. In a sorry state of affairs the increasing vulnerability of glaciers to heat waves increasing year after does not get any attention and intervention from the Jammu & Kashmir Government. The Government does not sound even a symbolic alarm on this count despite the fact that assessing the impact of the increasing heat waves on glaciers in Kashmir should have been accorded highest priority by the Forest & Environment Department of the Jammu & Kashmir Government. The threat to the glaciers in Kashmir triggered by temperature rise year after year has been doubled by the unchecked increasing human activities. In the process the heat wave have also brought under tremendous stress water levels in most of the water bodies across Jammu & Kashmir. The melting of glaciers is not only depleting the water levels in most of the water bodies in the Union Territory but is also consequently putting under huge stress the agriculture economy and food security across Jammu & Kashmir. Experts believe that Jammu & Kashmir is annually losing nearly one metre of glacier and consequently glaciers recede by about 20 metres. This is a grave concern for the earth sciences experts and environmentalists but unfortunately the Government does take serious the concerns of the experts. Had the Government taken serious the concerns of the earth science experts and environmentalists the Jammu & Kashmir Department of Forest & Environmental would have taken immediate actions to mitigate the effects.
“Experts lay stress on mountain water governance and call for greater focus on increasing the number of artificial glaciers to reduce water insecurity. Risk-mitigation initiatives like building climate-resilience infrastructure, mechanisms to regularly monitor glaciers and installation of early warning systems for floods are all greater areas of priority for the year 2025 already declared International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation by the United Nations .”
While the Government has been talking about eco-friendly tourism to reduce environmental stress on glaciers but practices of eco-friendly tourism are not pursued with the intensity the tourism should have pursued them and more in the wake unprecedented rise in footfall in last four years. Interestingly earth science experts also believer that the rise in melting of glaciers is also the cause of land sinking incidents that have rendered people homeless in some higher reaches of Kashmir and Chinab Valley in last three years. While the United Nations has declared 2025 as the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation, the onus for undertaking contingency measures lies on the Jammu & Kashmir Government. Experts lay stress on mountain water governance and call for greater focus on increasing the number of artificial glaciers to reduce water insecurity. Risk-mitigation initiatives like building climate-resilience infrastructure, mechanisms to regularly monitor glaciers and installation of early warning systems for floods are all greater areas of priority for the year 2025 already declared International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation by the United Nations.
