En route to climate change adaptation

Ayesha Qaisrani in Pakistan Today: With no adherence to geographical boundaries, climate change continues to hover over our heads like a dense, dark cloud of uncertainty. Even with all the sophisticated projections of climate change, only one thing about it remains certain: that it is happening and we better act now.

Realising the gravity of the situation, Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA) in collaboration with Janathakshan and Asia Pacific Adaptation Network (APAN), organised a sub-regional workshop for the South Asian nations in Colombo, Sri Lanka, to discuss the latest adaptation initiatives taken up and exchange best practices and information. The workshop took place on the 23rd and 24th of February 2015 and was attended by representatives of Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Maldives, Bhutan and Nepal including representation from the respective governments, the parliaments and the civil society.

...It was encouraging to get insights about the adaptation initiatives being taken up by the nations of South Asia. Even more encouraging was the general recognition of the need of cooperation and collaboration among the nations for an effective response to climate change. Emphasising on the need of regional cooperation, Mr Malik Muhammad Uzair Khan, Member Parliament, Pakistan, commented, “Pakistan like India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh is reeling under the worst impacts of climate change. Clearly, climate change knows no borders and now more than ever it is critical that our leaders come together to share best practices for climate change adaptation and set the region on the path of sustainable development.”

Underlining that capacity building is the keystone to effective adaptation to climate change. The representatives advocated a balanced investment in physical infrastructure and skills of the population. They stressed upon focusing on education and awareness, health, agriculture sector, water management and disaster preparedness to increase the resilience of people and reduce their vulnerability. Besides individual and community level, focus should also be directed at institutional capacity building as, quite often, it is the institutions that are inefficient in setting their priorities for strategic response to climate change....

NASA image of 2010 flooding in Pakistan

Loss and damage from climate change

Science Daily: An open access special issue of the International Journal of Global Warming brings together, for the first time, empirical evidence of loss and damage from the perspective of affected people in nine vulnerable countries. The articles in this special issue show how climatic stressors affect communities, what measures households take to prevent loss and damage, and what the consequences are when they are unable to adjust sufficiently. The guest-editors, Kees van der Geest and Koko Warner of the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) in Bonn, Germany, introduce the special issue with an overview of key findings from the nine research papers, all of which are available online free of charge.

'Loss and damage' refers to adverse effects of climate variability and climate change that occur despite mitigation and adaptation efforts. Warner and van der Geest discuss the loss and damage incurred by people at the local-level based on evidence from research teams working in nine vulnerable countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Kenya, Micronesia, Mozambique and Nepal. The research papers pool data from 3269 household surveys and more than 200 focus groups and expert interviews.

The research reveals four loss and damage pathways. Residual impacts of climate stressors occur when:

• existing coping/adaptation to biophysical impact is not enough;
• measures have costs (including non-economic) that cannot be regained;
• despite short-term merits, measures have negative effects in the longer term; or
• no measures are adopted -- or possible -- at all.

The articles in this special issue provide evidence that loss and damage happens simultaneously with efforts by people to adjust to climatic stressors. The evidence illustrates loss and damage around barriers and limits to adaptation: growing food and livelihood insecurity, unreliable water supplies, deteriorating human welfare and increasing manifestation of erosive coping measures (e.g. eating less, distress sale of productive assets to buy food, reducing the years of schooling for children, etc.). These negative impacts touch upon people's welfare and health, social cohesion, culture and identity -- values that contribute to the functioning of society but which elude monetary valuation....

Turner's 1805 painting, "The Shipwreck"

Himalayan glaciers will shrink by almost 10 percent, even if temperatures hold steady

Science Daily: Come rain or shine, or even snow, some glaciers of the Himalayas will continue shrinking for many years to come.

The forecast by Brigham Young University geology professor Summer Rupper comes after her research on Bhutan, a region in the bull's-eye of the monsoonal Himalayas. Published in Geophysical Research Letters, Rupper's most conservative findings indicate that even if climate remained steady, almost 10 percent of Bhutan's glaciers would vanish within the next few decades. What's more, the amount of melt water coming off these glaciers could drop by 30 percent.

Rupper says increasing temperatures are just one culprit behind glacier retreat. A number of climate factors such as wind, humidity, precipitation and evaporation can affect how glaciers behave. With some Bhutanese glaciers as long as 13 miles, an imbalance in any of these areas can take them decades to completely respond. "These particular glaciers have seen so much warming in the past few decades that they're currently playing lots of catch up," Rupper explains.

In fact, snowfall rates in Bhutan would need to almost double to avoid glacier retreat, but it's not a likely scenario because warmer temperatures lead to rainfall instead of snow. If glaciers continue to lose more water than they gain, the combination of more rain and more glacial melt will increase the probability of flooding -- which can be devastating to neighboring villages.

"Much of the world's population is just downstream of the Himalayas," Rupper points out. "A lot of culture and history could be lost, not just for Bhutan but for neighboring nations facing the same risks."...

The glacial lakes of Bhutan, NASA image

52 glacial lakes in Himalayas termed dangerous

Dawn (Pakistan): At least 52 glacial lakes in Gilgit and Astore districts have been identified as ‘potentially dangerous’ by a project sponsored by the European Union and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The project report titled “Managing climate risks in the Himalayas: A community-centric approach” says that in the sub-basins of Swat, Chitral, Gilgit, Hunza, Shigar, Shyok, upper Indus, Shingo, Astore and Jhelum (covering the Hindukush Himalayan region) there are 5,218 glaciers with 2,420 glacial lakes.

The report says the Hindukush Himalayan (HKH) region is “one of the most glacierised regions of the world” and monitoring of the size of the glacial lakes there has revealed that quite a few of them are expanding at an alarming rate due to accelerated glacier retreat and melting associated with climate change. Work under the project was also carried out in Bhutan, India and Nepal.

...The report also says the HKH region is one of the most hazard-prone regions of the world because of its susceptibility to earthquakes, landslides, floods, droughts, wildfires and cloudbursts.

The physical and socio-economic characteristics of the Himalayan region combined with changing risk factors such as environmental and climate change, population growth and economic globalisation have rendered the region highly vulnerable, according to the report....

A lake near Manang, Nepal, shot by Liran Ben Yehuda, public domain

India inks climate change adaptation deal with neighbours

Hindustan Times: Realising that consequences of climate change in Himalayas can no longer be ignored, India along with Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh has signed a declaration for wide-ranging collaboration on energy, water, food and biodiversity issues to addresss the threat to their ecosystem.

Wildlife Fund (WWF), a leading conservation organisation, said in a statement that the deal signed at Bhutanese capital Thimphu could lead the way to similar climate adaptation plans being implemented to cover other threatened ecosystems. "The success of our initiative will not only have direct and immediate benefits for our own people, but we could be setting a worthy precedent for other countries that share similar conditions," Bhutan's Prime Minister Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley was quoted as saying in the statement.

The four nations reached the pact at the two-day "Climate Summit for a Living Himalayas" against the backdrop of melting glaciers, erratic weather conditions, changing rainfall patterns and increasing temperatures impacting the people and wildlife of the region.

Environment Secretary T Chatterjee represented India at the summit attended by high-level government officials, NGOs, leaders of civil society, and youth ambassadors from the four Eastern Himalayan nations. "The four nations broadly agreed to combine powers to increase access to 'affordable and reliable' clean energy resources and technology through a regional knowledge sharing mechanism....

Nanga Parbat from the air: Diamir (west) face. In the background left of Nanga Parbat some peaks of the Karakorams: Saltoro Kangri, K6, Sherpi Kangri(?) and Ghent (the snow-covered double-summit) (right to left). Shot by Guilhem Vellut (*_*), Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

As glaciers melt, Bhutan faces risk of 'mountain tsunamis'

Julien Bouissou in Yahoo News via Worldcrunch, via le Monde: The Kingdom of Bhutan, tucked between India and China in the foothills of the Himalaya mountain range, is paying the price for global industrialization. To the north of the country, a chain of Himalayan glaciers is rapidly retreating — by between 20 m and 30 m per year. Experts blame climate change and predict that by 2035, the glaciers could be gone altogether.

Water flows from these melting glaciers until it breaks the natural ice dams that hold it in place. That, in turn, can result in devastating floods like the one that occurred in 1994, when a torrent of mud killed dozens of people in Bhutan and wiped out entire villages. Western scientists call this phenomenon a glacial-lake-outburst flood, or GLOF. With 24 of its 2,674 glacial lakes considered unstable, Bhutan is preparing in the coming years for even deadlier "mountain tsunamis," as the phenomenon is sometimes referred to.

Bhutan is one of the first countries in the world to make GLOF prevention a national priority. In 2005, the government received environmental-protection funds financed in part by the U.N. Development Programme. The money was earmarked in part to help Bhutan drain water from Thorthormi Glacial Lake and reinforce its natural dams. But at that high altitude, the work is difficult, dangerous and ultimately costly. (See photos of Bhutan's new king.)

..."Thanks to satellite imagery, it's possible to identify the most dangerous glaciers. But it's impossible to say when or where a catastrophe will happen," says Pradeep Mool, an engineer with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, based in Kathmandu, Nepal...

A mountain view in Bhutan, shot by Thomas Wanhoff, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

'Happy' Bhutan alarmed by Himalayan climate change

Terra Daily via AFP: Bhutan's prime minister has issued a dire warning about the impact of Himalayan climate change, saying it could wreck the tiny kingdom's ambitious plans to be a world leader in hydropower.

The isolated, mountainous nation sandwiched between India and China is famed for pursuing "happiness" for its citizens instead of orthodox economic growth, with environmental protection central to its development model.

Bhutan, home to 700,000 people, is already a carbon-neutral electricity producer, with almost all of its power generated at plants that capture energy from the cascading streams that criss-cross its spectacular landscape.

But Prime Minister Jigmi Thinley told AFP the country was powerless to prevent changes caused by shifting weather patterns which threaten regional water supplies and plans to harness the energy of the Himalayan snowmelt.

"The glaciers are retreating very rapidly, some are even disappearing. The flow of water in our river system is fluctuating in ways that are very worrying," he said in an interview in his office in the capital Thimphu....

View of Thimphu from the east, Yangchenphug district. Shot by Matt Dork, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Building local resilience in Bhutan

Kuensel Online (Bhutan): Zhemgang and Wangdue dzongkhags will receive Nu 27M (USD 600,000) from the UN capital development fund (UNCDF) this year for a pilot project to build local resilience or adaptability to the effects of climate change. Of the total fund USD 503,000 will go directly as capital grant to the two gewogs of Nangkhor in Zhemgang and Phobjikha in Wangdue to undertake climate adaptation activities.

“People at the local level will decide for themselves what they need to do to build in adapting to climate change,” UNCDF program analyst, Chencho G Dorjee, said. “They can use the fund for, say, greening activities, rainwater harvesting, or building retaining walls to make the farm road more climate proof.” Chencho G Dorjee said the two gewogs were chosen, based on criteria that considered poverty, climate change and environment.

The project will be implemented by the department of local governance, home ministry. The department of local governance’s chief planning officer, Karma Galay, said that experts will talk to people at the local level and help identify possible projects.

Yesterday, officials representing the government of Bhutan signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with UNCDF in Thimphu to support the pilot project. Bhutan is the first pilot country for UNCDF under the LoCAL program (2011-14).

The LoCAL program is the UNCDF’s facility for investment in local level climate resilience. The facility channels global adaptation finance to local governments, and enables them to invest in building local resilience. UNCDF will, under the agreement, provide direct grants to the government for local climate resilience and adaptation, seek further adaptation resources, and provide technical assistance...

Four Himalayan nations working on climate change adaptation plans

Planetsave via WWF: Governments of four Eastern Himalayan states announced plans today that will lead to the development of a unified climate change adaptation plan for the mountainous region. Delegates from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal met in Thimphu on January 27 and 28 to start planning 10-year national and regional adaptation frameworks that will be tabled later this year.

“Climate change is a shared problem and regions bound by common issues and geographical boundaries should coordinate efforts to deal with its impacts on the Himalayan biodiversity. Actions must be expedited at local, national and regional levels,” said the Honorable Minister for Agriculture and Forests Bhutan, Dr. Pema Gyamtsho.

Key concerns to be addressed by the decade-long framework include ensuring food, water and energy security as well as maintaining high levels of biodiversity in the region’s temperate and alpine forests. Working groups based in each of the four nations will hammer out details on food, water, biodiversity and energy targets over the following months. Final plans will be tabled at the Climate Summit for a Living Himalayas scheduled for 14 October in Thimphu, Bhutan…

Mount Jomolhari in Bhutan, shot by Christopher Fynn, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Climate aid for Bhutan

Brunei Times: Landlocked, mountainous Bhutan is getting support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan to counter the harmful impacts of climate change on its rivers – the lifeblood of the economy. The Japan Special Fund, financed by the Government of Japan and administered by ADB, is providing a $700,000 grant for building up the capacity of Bhutan?s National Environment Commission (NEC).

The NEC is the designated national authority for climate change issues and handles projects that are eligible to avail of carbon credits under the Kyoto Protocol. However, it currently lacks the staff and other capacity for developing mitigation and adaptation measures that can counter climate change.

Bhutan's rivers are the backbone of the economy, with exports of hydropower-generated electricity accounting for more than 40% of national revenue, while 70% of the population lives in rural areas and depends heavily on irrigated agriculture. Climate change threatens to have a serious impact on river flows as a result of changing patterns of rain and snowfall, flash floods exacerbated by melting glaciers, and acute droughts in the dry season. …

Bhutan's coat of arms, though it looks like a mandala to me

Stabilised Bhutan lake a climate change lesson: WWF

Agence France-Presse: An international project that prevented a glacial lake in Bhutan from bursting its banks underlined how climate change can be tackled by adaptation, the environmental group WWF said on Tuesday. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said efforts by local and international agencies earlier this year reduced the risk of the brimming Thorthormi Tsho lake in the Himalayas flooding a valley.

"The story of Thorthormi lake is shaping up to be a story of successful adaptation to climate change," Tariq Aziz, who heads WWF?s Living Himalayas Initiative, said in a statement. "It is also a story of the risks that climate change is building for communities and the costs and complexities of successful adaptation work," he added.

A breach in the lake, perched at 4,428 metres (14,612 feet) above sea level, would be catastrophic, the environmental group warned. "The prospect is frightening," WWF said, recalling a smaller glacial lake burst in the same region in 1994 that left 20 people dead and caused havoc….

A NASA satellite view of glacial lakes in Bhutan