In 2023, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) revealed in a report that the “Himalayan glaciers could lose up to 80 per cent of their ice by the end of this century because of the rise in temperature”. Their report also found that the glaciers in the Himalaya and Hindu Kush Mountain range regions melted 65 per cent faster in the 2010s compared with previous decades. This fast-paced melting of the Himalayan glaciers may flood farmlands. One potential solution to this problem is through international funding of rainwater local harvesting programmes. This would reduce risk of floods during rains, and can also help reduce the pressure on the groundwater table, allowing it to replenish.
It will also avert water pollution and minimize spreading of viral diseases. Additionally, it will help in mitigating erosion. At local level water tables will be recharged in the aquifers and replenishing the local water tables on a regular basis would be possible.
Ghazala Anbreen
Islamabad