To slow down the process of melting, China has used the techniques of snow blankets and artificial snow systems.
Mar 26: Increased global warming is driving the melting of glaciers across the globe. This trend might be exacerbated if the temperatures continue to rise, leading to water scarcity.
Climate change has a massive effect on the world’s climate. Increased temperatures have led to the rapid melting of glaciers across the world.
In China, the glaciers have shrunk by 26% since 1960, with 7,000 small glaciers disappearing completely. This has led to major concerns in Beijing over a major freshwater crisis and the likelihood of big disaster risks.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) also mentioned in its report the disappearance of the world’s glaciers faster than ever in the last three years.
Glaciers in China are located in the northern and western parts of the country in the regions of Tibet and Xinjiang, and the provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu, and Qinghai.
According to the data published by the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, showed that China’s total glacier area was around 46,000 square kilometres, with around 69,000 glaciers in 2020.
This compares to around 59,000 square kilometres and around 46,000 glaciers in China between 1960 and 1980, the study showed.
To slow down the process of melting, China has used the techniques of snow blankets and artificial snow systems.
Burning of fossil fuels and deforestation will increase global temperatures, leading to the loss of ice from the Arctic to the Alps, from South America to the Tibetan Plateau.
The UNESCO report also said that this rapid melting could exacerbate economic, environmental, and social problems.
The Tibetan plateau is known as the world’s Third Pole for the amount of ice long locked in the high-altitude wilderness is on the verge of losing its icon.
As the freshwater resources continue to deplete, this will lead to water scarcity, thus threatening the economy and the lives of people.
The melting of glaciers can be addressed by curing global temperatures, and China needs to take prompt actions especially in terms of human made-emissions and that generated from fossil fuel.(India Today)
