Exploring the Himalayas’ Melting Glacial Lakes

In May 2002, a team of UNEP backed mountaineers embarked on an expedition to the World famous mountain range- the Himalayas. This was done to further investigate reports that the glacial lakes in Nepal and Bhutan contain hazardous levels of water due to global warming.

The seven-strong expedition, which set out from Kathmandu, on 16 May, returned on I June after climbing on Island Peak, which is 6,189 metres (20,305 feet) above sea level in the Khumbu Region of Nepal.The expedition, whose findings were released on World Environment Day 2002, visited the famous Thyangboche Monastery and talked to experts including ones in the Sagarmatha (Everest) National Park.

UNEP scientists, working with experts from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development based in Kathmandu, used satellites and on the ground studies to pin point 44 glacial lakes in Nepal and Bhutan that are now so swollen, they could burst their banks in as little as five years.

There has been concern that rising numbers of tourists and climate change might also be having impacts on the vegetation of the area. Alton Byers of the US-based Mountain Institute told the World Ecotourism Summit in Quebec last month that an estimated 27,000 people a year visited the area, up from a handful in the early 1960s. Tourists now outnumber the local sherpa population which totals 3,000 in the Khumbu region of Nepalo's Solu Khumbu District.

The research of the Mountain Institute had concluded that above 4,000 metres over harvesting of high altitude juniper shrubs and cushion plants for fuel, nearly all of which is tourist related, is having a serious impact on the environment. These impacts include erosion and loss of wildlife.

However local community action groups are being developed to restore these degraded habitats. Plans include banning the harvesting of alpine shrubs and the development of subsidies to encourage the sustainable exploitation of trees such as the plentiful supplies of birch and rhododendron from lower down.