<\/p>\n
KATHMANDU: Nepal\u2019s snow-capped mountains have lost close to one-third of their ice, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday and urged the world to \u201cstop the madness\u201d of climate change.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rooftops of the world are caving in,\u201d Guterres said on a visit to the Everest region in mountainous Nepal, struggling from rapidly melting glaciers to witness the devastating impact of the phenomenon.<\/p>\n
\u201cGlaciers are icy reservoirs \u2014 the ones here in the Himalayas supply fresh water to well over a billion people,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen they shrink, so do river flows.\u201d<\/p>\n
Glaciers in Nepal wedged between two major carbon polluters \u2014 India and China \u2014 melted 65 per cent faster in the last decade than in the previous one, the UN chief said in a video message after visiting the Solukhumbu region during his four-day trip to Nepal.<\/p>\n
\nSays Nepal\u2019s glaciers melted 65pc faster in last decade<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Glaciers in the wider Himalayan and Hindu Kush ranges are a crucial water source for around 240 million people in the mountainous regions, as well as for another 1.65 billion people in the South Asian and Southeast Asian river valleys below.<\/p>\n
Scientists say they are melting faster than ever before due to climate change, exposing communities to unpredictable and costly disasters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am here today to cry out from the rooftop of the world: stop the madness\u201d, Guterres said, speaking from Syangboche village, with the icy peak of the world\u2019s highest mountain Everest towering behind him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe glaciers are retreating, but we cannot. We must end the fossil fuel age,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must act now to protect people on the frontline and to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees to avert the worst of climate chaos,\u201d Guterres said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMelting glaciers mean swollen lakes and rivers flooding, sweeping away entire communities\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n
But all too soon, glaciers will dry up if change is not made, he warned.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the future, major Himalayan rivers like the Indus, the Ganges and Brahmaputra could have massively reduced flows,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Climate scientists say the earth\u2019s temperature has increased by an average of 0.74 degrees Celsius over the past 100 years, but warming across South Asia\u2019s Himalayas has been greater than the global averages.<\/p>\n
Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2023<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KATHMANDU: Nepal\u2019s snow-capped mountains have lost close to one-third of their ice, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday and urged the world to \u201cstop the madness\u201d of climate change. \u201cThe rooftops of the world are caving in,\u201d Guterres said on a visit to the Everest region in mountainous Nepal, struggling from rapidly melting glaciers 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