Alert in the Himalayas: an “invisible” thaw puts 1.9 billion people in danger
He water it is one of the most precious resources of our planet, whose flow follows the laws of gravity. However, the greatest amount of fresh water on Earth is stored as ice in high mountain regions, such as glaciers, lakes or high mountain wetlands.
Currently more than 50% of fresh water used for human consumption comes from these mountainous regions, and the Himalayas is the most abundant in this resource.
About 1.9 billion people depend on the water supply of the Himalayas, equivalent to a quarter of the world’s population. For this reason, the annual loss of ice in these glaciers has always been a source of concern for scientists from all parts of the planet.
However, a recent study published in the Nature Geosciences Magazine revealed that the annual ice loss in the Himalayan region had been underestimated by 6.5 to 10%, due to the limitations of the satellite images used in this type of study. In particular, it is impossible to predict the amount of ice that was melting under glacial lakes.
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Serious problem for human water consumption
According to this study, between the years 2000 and 2020, glacial lakes in the region have increased in number, area and volume, this expansion has resulted in an estimated loss of glacial mass of approximately 2.7 gigatonsequivalent to about 550,000 pyramids of Giza.
This loss had not been taken into account by previous studies, since the satellite data could only measure the surface water of the lake, but not the sea ice which is replaced by water.
This new study of ice loss in the Himalayas is a wake-up call on the importance of continuing to investigate and monitor the situation of high mountain glaciers.
Fresh water is a vital resource for humanity and its loss can have serious consequences on the life and economy of millions of people around the world.
Humanity is wasting water resources despite ‘imminent crisis’
humanity “vampire” the world’s water resources “drop by drop”warns the UN in a report published hours before the start of the first water conference in nearly half a century, which will try to restore hope to millions of people in danger of an “imminent” global crisis .
“Unsustainable water use, pollution and uncontrolled global warming are draining the blood of humanity, drop by drop,” warns UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in the preface to the report published at the occasion of the United Nations conference on water. , the first since Mar del Plata in Argentina in 1977.
“Humanity is heading blindly down a dangerous path”he underlines, before attacking the “vampirization” of this vital resource, which concerns “everyone”.
Without enough water in many places, although too much or contaminated in others, dramatic situations are multiplying, and the UN-Water and Unesco report warns against the ” imminent risk of a global water crisis”.
“How many people will be affected by this global water crisis is a matter of scenario,” lead author Richard Connor told AFP. “If nothing is done, between 40 and 50% of the population will remain without access to sanitation services and around 20 to 25% to drinking water”, ensures. Even if the percentages do not change, the population increases, so more people will be affected, he observes.
In an attempt to reverse the trend and guarantee access for all to drinking water and sanitation services by 2030, objectives set in 2015, some 6,500 participants, including around a hundred ministers and a few heads of State and government, met until Friday in New York, with concrete “commitments”.
It’s now or never
“There is a lot to do and time is not on our side,” says Gibert Hougbo, president of UN-Water, a platform that coordinates the work of the UN, which has no dedicated agency. to this vital question.
Since 1977, no conference of this magnitude has been organized on this subject, which is largely ignored.
In a world where freshwater consumption has increased by around 1% per year over the past 40 years – particularly in low-income and emerging countries – the report highlights challenges that “are becoming more widespread ” and to worsen with the impact of global warming. Agriculture absorbs 72% of water, while consumption in the industrial sector has fallen by 12%.
In areas like Central America and the Caribbean, South America and Asiafrom 2000 to 2018 water withdrawals increased, unlike the rest of the world.
About 10% of the world’s population lives in countries where water stress (the relationship between water use and availability) has reached a high or critical level. According to the report by UN climate experts (IPCC) published on Monday, “nearly half of the world’s population” suffers from a “severe” water shortage for at least part of the year.
This situation reflects inequalities. “No matter where you are, if you have enough money, you will manage to have water”, explains Richard Connor. But “the poorer you are, the more vulnerable you are to these crises”.
The problem is not just the lack of water, but the contamination that may be due to the absence or deficiencies of sanitation systems.
At least 2 billion people drink water contaminated with faeces, exposing them to cholera, dysentery, typhus and poliomyelitis. Not to mention the contamination of pharmaceuticals, chemicals, pesticides, microplastics or nanomaterials.
To guarantee access to drinking water for all by 2030, current levels of investment in this area should be multiplied by at least three times, the report stresses.
Pollutants also threaten nature. Freshwater ecosystems that provide invaluable services to humanity, including helping to combat global warming, are “among the most threatened in the world”, the report says.
“We have broken the water cycle”, summarizes for AFP Henk Ovink, special envoy for water from the Netherlands, co-organizer with Tajikistan of this UN conference.
“We must act now because water insecurity undermines food security, health, energy security or urban development and (multiplies) social problems,” he adds. “It’s Now or Never: The Opportunity of a Generation.”
Source: El Heraldo De Mexico
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