Call to save Himalayan glaciers from effects of climate change

Dawn (Pakistan): Environmentalists at a consultative seminar on Thursday asked the international community to help India and Pakistan in saving the Himalayan glaciers from the harmful effects of climate change. The speakers also said that Pakistan should group with and support the proposal of G-77 countries and China aimed at bringing deeper cuts in harmful emissions by the developed countries.

The consultation seminar entitled ‘Role of Pakistan’s Civil Society in the Upcoming Bangkok Negotiations’ was organised by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), in collaboration with Climate Action Network–South Asia (CANSA) and Oxfam GB and PYCN (Pakistan Youth Climate Network).

Arshad H Abbassi, Water Expert, Visiting Research Fellow, SDPI, said that Climate change was by far the biggest threat ever encountered by mankind. ‘It is time that the global leadership and community work with Pakistani and Indian leaders to save Himalayan glaciers by solving the long-standing Siachen dispute,’ he said.

Not only is this conflict adding to environmental degradation, sea level rise and changing climate pattern but it is also depriving the poor of both countries of close to one billion dollars every year that these countries spend to maintain troops there. He highlighted that the Siachen glacier was melting at an unprecedented rate due to deployment of troops and establishment of permanent cantonments...

Pakistan's Baltoro Glacier (in the background) is the source of the Braldu River. Shot by Stuart Orford, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 License