The Global Thaw Set To Effect Billions Across Asia
Pastor Dale Morgan
The Global Thaw Set To Effect Billions Across Asia*
Melting snow and glaciers on the mountains of Asia alone could affect
approximately 40 percent of the planet's population.
by William M. Reilly
UPI U.N. Correspondent
Tromso, Norway (UPI) June 05, 2007
Melting snow covers, ice and glaciers in Asia alone could affect about
40 percent of the world's population, said the U.N. Environment Program.
Despite the melting, availability of water supplies for both drinking
and agricultural uses will also be impacted, while rising sea levels
will affect low-lying coastal areas and islands, said the report, Global
Outlook for Ice and Snow.
Released on the eve of Tuesday's Environment Day, the report was
compiled by UNEP and a network of about 70 world experts.
It "underlines that the fate of the world's snowy and icy plates in a
climatically challenged world should be cause for concern in every
ministry, boardroom and living room across the world," said UNEP
Executive Director Achim Steiner, speaking at celebrations in Tromso,
Norway, to mark World Environment Day.
"Indeed the findings are as relevant to people living in the tropics and
temperate climes -- and in cities from Berlin to Brasilia and Beijing to
Boston -- as they are for the people living in Arctic or in ice-capped
mountain regions."
Melting snow and glaciers on the mountains of Asia alone could affect
approximately 40 percent of the planet's population, the report said.
The melting is also likely to increase hazards including avalanches and
floods from the buildup of potentially unstable glacial lakes, UNEP
said. These can burst their ice and soil dams, sending walls of water
down valleys at speeds close to that of a modern anti-tank missile.
Similar challenges face people from the Alps to the Andes and the
Pyrenees, said the report.
Additionally, as ice and snow melt, avalanches and floods from the
buildup of potentially unstable glacial lakes are possible. As ice
thaws, there is also the danger of higher levels of methane, a gas that
contributes to global warming, being released.
New estimates indicate the quantities of methane emerging from so-called
thermokast lakes is up to five times higher than had previously been
supposed, the agency said.
Rising temperatures, coupled with the thawing of frozen land or
"permafrost," are leading to the creation of new and expansion of
existing lakes in places such as Siberia, which are releasing bubbles of
methane estimated to be 43,000 years old.
Less snow and sea ice means more of the sun's heat will be absorbed by
land and polar oceans, which in turn will speed up global warming.
"Melting Ice -- a Hot Topic" was adopted as a slogan from the
International Polar Year, which runs from this year to next, said UNEP,
pointing out some communities are already adapting to climate change.
Hunters in parts of Greenland are abandoning traditional dog sleds in
favor of skiffs as a result of less predictable sea ice.
Part of a key railway line in China, over the Tibet Plateau, was built
on permafrost but was designed with special cooling technology to reduce
the risks of sinking into thawing earth.
The UNEP report acknowledges many indigenous peoples lack the financial
resources and technology needed to adapt and many parts of the world
remain ill-prepared for the likely pace of climatic change.
"The report comes in 2007, a year in which climate change came in from
the cold in terms of science, likely impacts and costs. Indeed the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has concluded that the bill
may be less than 0.1 per cent of global GDP a year," Steiner said.
"Overcoming the climate change challenge is the bargain of the century,"
he added. " is universal political action. Today's report should empower
the public to take their leaders to task ... encourage them to ask how
much hotter it has to get" before they take action to reduce emissions.
Source: United Press International