Admin frames monitoring committee
Srinagar, Apr 5: Jammu and Kashmir administration has framed a highly powered monitoring committee to evaluate the present condition of glaciers and glacial lakes, to mitigate potential hazards in the Union Territory.
The Principal Secretary of Home will serve as its chairman, with 15 members, including the noted geologist and Vice-Chancellor of the Islamic University of Sciences and Technology (IUST), Professor Shakil Ahmad Romshoo.
“To suggest site-specific best technical measures to minimize the glacial threat in identified glacial lakes and delineate the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders. To propose actions required for human resource development/capacity building towards the study and management of glacial retreat and associated threats. Additionally, to recommend any other specific measures to minimize the glacial threat in J&K,” the order reads.
The Himalayas have witnessed an increasing threat of Glacial Lake Outburst Flooding (GLOF). Over the years, several GLOFs have hit the Himalayas, causing massive destruction to infrastructure and claiming thousands of lives. Experts attribute this to climate change and an increase in anthropogenic footprints on glaciers.
GLOF is the term scientists use to describe when the water level of glacial lakes breaches their boundaries, leading to large amounts of water flowing into nearby streams and rivers, creating flash floods.
Studies indicate that GLOFs remain a persistent threat to downstream communities, infrastructure, and flora and fauna.
According to various studies and experts, there are 15,000 glaciers in Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh alone.
“The Himalayas exhibited more GLOF events than any other mountainous area, with a frequency of 1.3 GLOFs per year over the last four decades. The changing climate has increased glacier thinning and heterogeneous mass loss globally. These changes clearly indicate the critically rising concern about the health of the Himalayan glaciers,” one of the studies read.
