Warming Shrinks Kashmir's Rivers, Streams - Report
Date: 25-Sep-07
Country: INDIA
According to an ActionAid report on the impact climate
change is having in Kashmir, many small glaciers in the
disputed state have completely disappeared over the last four
decades.
"The study shows that the water level in almost all the
streams and rivers in Kashmir has decreased by approximately
two-thirds during the last 40 years," said the report titled
"On the Brink?"
The report said the average temperature in the mountainous
parts of the restive state had increased by 1.45 degrees
Celsius (2.6 Fahrenheit) over the last two decades, while in
the southern plains the temperature rise was 2.32 degrees
Celsius (4.2 Fahrenheit).
Scientists warn that receding Himalayan glaciers could
jeopardise water supplies for hundreds of millions of people
and rising sea levels threaten Indian cities like Mumbai and
Kolkata.
Floods and droughts could become more common, diseases more
rampant and crop yields lower as temperatures rise, they add.
Kashmir is in the grip of a nearly 18-year-old insurgency
that has killed 42,000 people. Human rights groups put the toll
at about 60,000.