The Transparent Truth

By: Navin Khadka on January 8th, 2009

Five hundred million people in South Asia and half of the people in China will be directly affected by water scarcity as a result of the retreat of Himalayan glaciers due to global warming.

One of the world’s leading climate change experts has said that South Asian countries and China are not doing enough to address the possible water scarcity that global environmental problems could create. Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Rajendra Pachauri, said this region will be worst affected in terms of drastically decreased water supply because of climate change. Some representatives of South Asian governments have admitted that there has been no regional approach to address the issue. Back from a UN climate change conference in Poland, BBC’s Navin Singh Khadka reports.

The IPCC is the most authoritative body to have studied climate change globally. Its chairman, Mr Pachauri, said five hundred million people in South Asia and half of the people in China will be directly affected by water scarcity as a result of retreating Himalayan glaciers due to global warming. During the course of the climate change conference last week, he told the BBC that nothing was being done to tackle the potential crisis.

“We are not doing enough and I think we really need to start moving in the direction of using our water resources more efficiently and then looking for solutions by which we can manage this problem in the future. I don’t think there is enough action at all in these areas.”

The IPCC, in one of its latest reports, has stated that the poor would be hit hardest by climate change. South Asia is home to around 40 per cent of the world’s poor. Already one of the world’s most populous and unstable regions, concerns have mounted that it could become even more conflict-ridden because of water wars. One of the participants in the conference, the Nepalese environment minister Ganesh Shah, said South Asian countries were not yet organised to face the challenge.

“There has been nothing, no organised meetings on this. The glaciers in our mountains are melting, and if you don’t give attention to this, I think it will be a big injustice for the people who are living on the mountains and the Hindu Kush Himalayan region.”

Experts say there is an immediate danger of flooding from rapidly melting glaciers. But they have warned that, in the long run, rivers will run dry because glaciers will have retreated completely due to global warming. Major rivers in South Asia and China originate from Himalayan glaciers and are lifelines for millions of people. The Chinese government recently stated that it had plans to divert several rivers to help areas with water shortages. In its climate change action plan, India said it would adopt a regional approach to deal with the impacts. If these major regional players translated their words into action, perhaps experts like Mr. Pachauri might change their opinion.