The findings of a study published in the journal, Science, point at human activity contributing significantly to the melting of the glaciers. Analysing data gathered by the Randolph Glacier Inventory, researchers have found that, over the last two decades, two-thirds of the melting of 2 lakh glaciers worldwide, excluding those in Antarctica, was attributable to human activity. This debunks the theory that glacier-melting occurs primarily due to solar variability and volcanic eruptions. The study used computer simulations to contrast between the effects of natural factors and human activity like change in land use and greenhouse gas emissions to arrive at the results on the retreat of the glaciers.
Such rapid deglaciation poses a significant threat?not just because the melted ice imperils coastal habitation by raising sea levels but also because it will cause desertification in areas that are inundated by glacier-fed rivers. Chinese researchers have reported that Tibetan glaciers, many of which feed the Himalayan rivers, have shrunk by 15% over the past 30 years. This, they maintain, has contributed to the floods and landslides in the region, as per a Reuters report. The question, now, is what needs to be done. The understanding of climate change, and specifically anthropogenic climate change, remains fractured, which makes preventive interventions that much elusive. As for the Himalayan glaciers, given Indian and China, which host most of them, are both the world’s largest developing nations as well as its two most populous countries, reducing anthropogenic factors may not be feasible. Which is why the best recourse possibly would be, as this newspaper has maintained earlier, to hedge against possible risks.