.Things that have not happened for a century or more are
happening now-around the world including India. Delhi
shivered on its coldest day-January 8, 2006 –in over 70
years. The sudden dip in temperature to 0.7 degrees Celsius
forced the people to stay indoors. Delhi had recorded a
minimum temperature of minus (-) 0.6 degrees on January
10,1935. Hurricanes and cyclones ,deluge triggered by
incessant downpour , melting of ice in polar caps , thawing
of glaciers in the Himalayas-are these changes manmade or
are they the process of evolution ? The Kyoto protocol was
an open confession that global warming had already begun
and that mankind should take drastic measures to cut down
the emission of greenhouse gases in order to slow down
global warming and the consequent climatic changes. The
recent conference on climatic change held in Montreal
(Canada) once again understood the significance of measures
to stem the pace of the tide that is likely to engulf
all.
Global
warming is affecting glaciers all over the world . In the
Himalayas, which hold the largest ice reserves after the
polar ice caps, the rate of melting is the fastest. With
33,000 sq km of glaciers, it is aptly called the water
tower of Asia, ensuring round-the-year supply to billions
of people living in the plains. Reports indicate that 67 %
of the glaciers are retreating at an alarming rate – much
faster in the last three decades than in the last 200
years. What does the phenomenon presage for great rivers
like the Ganga ? More disastrous floods ? A March 2005
report by the World Wide Fund (WWF) for nature , a
collaborative effort by India, China and Nepal, found that
in the Ganga , the loss of glacier melt water will reduce
the July-September flows to two-thirds causing water-
shortages for 500 million people and 37% of India’s
irrigated land . There is the fear that with glaciers
melting fast there could be floods in quick succession
followed by thinner flow in the Ganga as a quarter of the
glacier mass could disappear by 2050 and up to a half by
2100, which means first floods followed by severe
drought.
It is
high time that the world acted quickly . Even now, we are
unaware that we have already knowingly or unknowingly,
triggered climatic change to the saturation point. While
the U.S., the biggest polluter, refuses to fall in line as
per the demands of Kyoto Protocol, fast developing
countries like India and China have also to look for
greener technologies in order that the Earth could continue
to be a liveable planet.