Water Storage - A strategy for climate change adaptation in the Himalayas

Sustainable Mountain Development No. 56, ICIMOD, Winter 2009
the distribution of burdens and beneﬁ ts among poor and snowfall are increasingly affecting the region. It is
wealthy nations”. The case of the mountains, as some here that the knowledge gaps in the eco-hydrology
of the most vulnerable regions of the world, exempliﬁ es of the HKH region stand as a serious obstacle to
such injustice. predictions of future climate patterns. Not only is the
climate-modelling inaccurate, the identiﬁ cation of risks
This makes the case for drawing special attention to
is difﬁ cult and needed adaptation strategies unclear.
the mountains in COP 15 with respect to adaptation
The problems of global warming and climate change
to the impacts of global warming and climate
underscore the need for the HKH region to strengthen
change. Unfortunately, as we approach COP 15 in
hydro-meteorological observations to the standards
Copenhagen with the prospect of moving towards a
suggested by the WMO for mountain areas. With water
post-Kyoto international climate protocol, the marginality
at a premium, eco-hydrological data on the rivers of the
of the mountains in global negotiations is once again
HKH becomes knowledge that can create immediate
clearly visible. There is a case for another organised
economic possibilities.
intervention on behalf of the mountains, as was made by
the Mountain Agenda collectively in the drawing up of
Agenda 21 for UNCED (Bandyopadhyay and Perveen
Adaptation for the HKH: water as the main
2004).
product of land
Mitigation of GHG emissions remains the ﬁ rst priority for
Global warming and the waters of the HKH
industrialised countries. However, adaptation strategies
are in the short- and long-term interest of the whole
Within the levels of accuracy of available modelling
world. In the case of the HKH region, adaptation must
tools, the IPCC (2007) has outlined the possible
go ahead with whatever little knowledge is available.
impacts of global warming and climate change on
The objective of adaptation will be two-fold. Firstly, the
the HKH region. These indicate that warming will be
quite signiﬁ cant for South Asia and the Tibetan Plateau.
The rates of retreat of the glaciers of the Himalayas
have also been linked to the rapid increase in human
Densely-wooded slopes support storage in Bhutan
settlements, industrial and urban pollution, and
deforestation near the glaciers. Eriksson et al. (2009)
have summarised these predicted impacts and indicative
scenarios. At the macro-level, accelerated retreat of the
glaciers would alter the contribution of glacier melt and
affect high altitude wetlands. This would change the
base ﬂ ow in the HKH rivers, ﬁ rst by increasing base ﬂ ow
over the next three or four decades, and subsequently,
by reducing it to a new equilibrium level, much lower
than at present. This will seriously affect the very large
Asian irrigation systems in China and South Asia that
depend on HKH waters. According to Stern (2007), the
accelerated melting of glaciers would seriously affect
about half a billion people in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan
region and a quarter of a billion in China. A recent
statement from the Asian Development Bank says that
about 1.6 billion people would be affected by the
impacts on the HKH.
Another vital aspect is the impact of climate change
on the precipitation pattern within the mountains which
affects the availability of drinking water in springs,
irrigation from small streams, and the snow needed
to renew soil moisture on farmlands. These are more
signiﬁ cant for mountain communities than glacier
recession. Drying up of springs, dehydration of soil,
reduced ﬂ ow of local streams, and lack of winter
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