Gangotri glacier receded at alarming rate

New Delhi, Mar 24: The Gangotri Glacier receded at the rate of 17.15 metres per year between 1971 and 2004, according to a study carried out by the Department of Science and Technology.

Another study estimated that the glacier had retreated 12.10 m during 2004-05.

The recession has also been observed in the case of Pindari Glacier. It receded by 9.41 metres during 1958-2001, according to the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

The recession may cause marginal rise in the discharge of Himalayan rivers due to enhanced melting which is the result of global warming.

The recently released fourth report of the UN panel on climate change has warned that India should gear up to face the challenges of rising sea level, melting glaciers, vanishing mangroves and more severe droughts and floods.

All this will be caused by a rise in global temperature between 1.8 and 4.0 degrees Celsius due to increasing human-induced concentration of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Temperatures rose about 0.7 degrees Celsius in the 20th century.

A more warmer globe will spell greater disaster for poor countries like India who have to house and feed a huge population dependent on agriculture which itself was dependent on vagaries of weather and climate.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) headed by Dr R K Pachauri, Director General of the country's Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI), said if preventive measures were not taken soon, India will be among the major contributors of carbon dioxide, one of the green house gases, into the atmosphere.

UNI