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AT 92, Phuntchok Namgyal is still sprightly enough to guide visiting journalists through his fields in Ladakh's Stakmo village that are in lockdown mode for the harsh winter ahead. "We grow barley, green peas, potatoes and vegetables here," says Namgyal, pointing out to the patches of farmland that dot this stretch of the barren mountainside. The farming season is short: from mid-April till mid-October, after which the entire region begins to be carpeted by snow. Typical of this region, the people depend on melted snow to irrigate their crops. "Earlier, in my youth, we used to get water from April onward, but now there is a water shortage in early summer too," says Namgyal, who has lived all his life in the village with 700 families. It doesn't need much prodding to have him reveal that the glaciers that stretched up to the doorstep of Stakmo are receding further and further away with every summer. "Even 20 to 30 years ago, this place had a natural glacier that did not melt during the summer," says Chewang Norphel, a retired civil engineer, who is building an artificial glacier here to augment Stakmo's water supply.
What the scientists call climate change is thus causing an adverse impact on the lives of people living in Ladakh, India's highest district. "The Hindukush-Himalayan-Tibetan glaciers are the water towers of Asia," says Prof Syed Iqbal Hasnain of The Energy Research Institute, who has been studying the melting of the Himalayan glaciers for several years. Looking ahead, the prospects seem to be getting worse rather than better, according to Hasnain. "Scientists have projected a 43 per cent decrease in the glacial area on an average by 2070 and a 75 per cent decrease in the glacial area by the end of the 21st century at the current rate of global warming," says Hasnain. "Glaciers in the Himalayas are receding faster than anywhere else in the world: 70 m per year," adds Tundup Angmo, climate change co-ordinator, Geres, an NGO active in the area. The impact can dramatically alter life in Ladakh. "Pest attacks on crops are being reported in newer areas across Ladakh. The coddling moth which was found only in the lower reaches of the Himalayas is being found here," says Angmo. In addition, violent monsoons that cause damage to crops and the human habitat are also being reported in the Himalayas, according to her. Moreover, snowfall has become less abundant and, consequently, water discharge into the Indus river is declining. "This would also affect hydro-electric power generation in the long term," she adds. Incidentally, studies to draw a precise link between the rising temperatures and the melting of glaciers are still in their infancy. "Glaciology is a very young science and we are still learning about the relationship between global warming and the melting of glaciers," says Rajesh Kumar, a glaciologist with the Birla Institute of Technology. Kumar, who has done pioneering work on the shrinking snout of the Gangotri glacier that feeds the Ganges. According to Kumar, research on retreating glaciers has been taken up seriously only for the past 25 years. "We are depending largely on anecdotal evidence from old residents in the area for information on glaciers," says Nisa Khatoon, the coordinator for the Worldwide Fund for Nature in Leh. But what is undeniable is the steady decline in temperatures recorded. The temperatures recorded in Ladakh have also been steadily rising over the past three decades. "The minimum temperature has risen by 1 degree celsius in winter and the maximum by 0.5 degrees celsius in summer," says Angmo. So, winters are slightly less severe while summers are getting longer and warmer. "Apple orchards are coming up at higher areas, vegetables are being cultivated in the open and the cultivation of newer crops like wheat is being reported from some places," informs Angmo. "Our challenge is to get the people to adapt to changes in the climatic conditions," she adds. Some have done just that: adopting mitigation technologies which reduce carbon emissions. With funding from government agencies, non-government organisations and the local administration are introducing technologies like greenhouses to facilitate vegetable cultivation. Solar heaters that harness the plentiful sunlight are sprouting up across the landscape. At the school run by the Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) in Phey village, 18 km from Leh, the entire campus is heated by passive solar heating. "The walls of the school are designed to absorb heat from the sun and to store it for as long as possible," says Rigzin Samdup, teacher and technical assistant. The construction material used included pieces of chopped plastic water bottles mixed with local mud and mortar. So, temperatures within the tiny buildings housing 40 students and faculty hover at around 14 degrees celsius even as hell freezes outside at 25 degrees below zero. "Our buildings have never needed external heating for the past 10 years," says Samdup. With little surrounding infrastructure, the school has had to generate its own electricity as well. Four arrays of 16-24 panels each generate 4000 watts of electricity daily, helping power lights, computers and television sets. "We use inverters to store power for use at night," says Samdup. He adds that power thus generated is also used to lift water from the Indus river to water trees and crops.
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