{"id":85100,"date":"2026-09-18T18:10:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T12:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=85100"},"modified":"2026-09-18T18:11:06","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T12:41:06","slug":"melting-of-glaciers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/18-09-2026\/melting-of-glaciers","title":{"rendered":"Melting of Glaciers: Causes &#038; Impacts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus<\/strong><strong>: GS3\/Environment; Climate Change<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/editorial-analysis\/31-08-2026\/bhotekoshi-flash-flood-nepal\"><strong>floods in Nepal<\/strong><\/a> following an ice-and-rock avalanche have renewed concerns over rapidly warming Himalayan glaciers, glacial-lake outbursts, and their implications for India\u2019s water and economic security.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About Melting of Glaciers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Himalayas are the <strong>ecological mainstay of the Indian Subcontinent, <\/strong>as they shape the monsoon, sustain biodiversity and pilgrimage economies, and feed the <strong>Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra<\/strong> systems.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Glaciers act as <strong>natural water reservoirs<\/strong>, releasing meltwater particularly during dry periods.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>However, accelerating warming is causing glacier retreat.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Himalayan river basins may reach <strong>\u2018Peak Water\u2019 around mid-century<\/strong>, after which declining ice reserves can reduce long-term river flows.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <strong>Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH)<\/strong> could lose <strong>up to 80% of its present glacier volume by 2100<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>India\u2019s Vulnerability<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u2018<strong><em>A Resilient Himalaya<\/em><\/strong>: protecting a region at risk and securing future prosperity\u2019 report (2024) estimates that <strong>\u20b964.8 lakh crore, or 21.5% of India\u2019s FY24 GDP<\/strong>, is dependent on the Himalayas.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It is <strong>not a projection of GDP loss<\/strong>; it measures economic activity dependent on Himalayan water.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Its three layers are:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Direct:<\/strong> GSDP of Himalayan states.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Indirect:<\/strong> downstream agriculture, manufacturing, hydropower and services dependent on Himalayan-fed rivers and groundwater recharge.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Induced:<\/strong> supply-chain and wage-spending effects.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Himalayas occupy <strong>18% of India\u2019s land but account for around 35% of its disasters<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Reasons for Glacier Melting<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Global Warming:<\/strong> rising temperatures accelerate ice loss.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Black Carbon:<\/strong> incomplete combustion deposits soot on snow, reducing albedo and increasing solar absorption. Recent modelling attributes about<strong> one-third of Himalayan glacier mass loss to South Asian black carbon<\/strong>.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Black carbon <\/strong>darkens snow, reducing reflectivity and increasing solar absorption.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Local Anthropogenic Pressures:<\/strong> brick kilns, cookstoves, transport and crop-residue burning.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Infrastructure &amp; Land-use Change:<\/strong> roads, hydropower and tourism facilities increase exposure and vulnerability in unstable mountain terrain.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why Glacier Retreat Matters?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Glacier retreat represents both a <strong>slow economic drain and a sudden disaster risk<\/strong>.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Nepal floods demonstrated how disturbances at high altitude can rapidly become downstream catastrophes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <strong>failure of the Bhote Koshi<\/strong> warning system to detect the sudden debris surge highlights the limits of existing monitoring.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Black carbon<\/strong> offers a comparatively actionable intervention.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Zigzag brick kilns<\/strong> can reduce black-carbon and particulate emissions by roughly <strong>70%<\/strong> and fuel use by <strong>20\u201330%<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Punjab and Haryana<\/strong> have completed the transition, while <strong>Uttar Pradesh<\/strong>, India\u2019s largest brick producer, has reached <strong>56% adoption<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Impacts of Melting Glaciers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Water Insecurity:<\/strong> eventual decline in glacier-fed river flows.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Agriculture:<\/strong> risks to wheat and rice in the Indo-Gangetic Plain and tea in Assam and Bengal.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Energy:<\/strong> implications for hydropower, particularly in the Northeast.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Disasters:<\/strong> expanding glacial lakes can burst through unstable moraine dams, producing <strong>Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs)<\/strong>, flash floods, landslides, and avalanches.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Macroeconomic stress:<\/strong> disasters disrupt supply chains, displace people and increase reconstruction costs, potentially intensifying fiscal and sovereign-debt pressures.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <strong>South Lhonak Lake<\/strong> warning in <strong>Sikkim <\/strong>illustrates the challenge: a 2021 scientific study identified instability; the lake subsequently burst, killing <strong>at least 50 people<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Related Measures &amp; Efforts<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE)<\/strong> under India\u2019s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Strengthening <strong>GLOF early-warning systems<\/strong>, glacier monitoring and hazard mapping.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>India-Nepal-China information sharing<\/strong> on Himalayan ecology and transboundary hazards.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Climate pacts and technology-transfer mechanisms.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>International experience such as <strong>Switzerland\u2019s 2025 Blatten glacier-collapse response<\/strong>, where advance monitoring and evacuation helped limit casualties.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Forward<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Adopt a <strong>Himalayan-wide, risk-informed development model<\/strong>: cumulative environmental assessments, mountain-specific construction standards, continuous glacier and lake monitoring, community-based evacuation systems, and transboundary data sharing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>India should establish a <strong>targeted brickmaking transition fund<\/strong>, retire inefficient kilns, and simultaneously address <strong>kilns, cookstoves, transport, and crop-residue burning at the airshed scale<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Thus, climate mitigation, disaster resilience and sustainable mountain development must proceed together.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-climate\/himalayas-melting-glaciers-20-of-india-gdp-at-risk-10881939\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source: IE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong> Context <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Recent floods in Nepal following an ice-and-rock avalanche have renewed concerns over rapidly warming Himalayan glaciers, glacial-lake outbursts, and their implications for India\u2019s water and economic security. <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> About Melting of Glaciers <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> The Himalayas are the ecological mainstay of the Indian Subcontinent, as they shape the monsoon, sustain biodiversity and pilgrimage economies, and feed the Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra systems. <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Glaciers act as natural water reservoirs, releasing meltwater particularly during dry periods. <\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/18-09-2026\/melting-of-glaciers\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85100"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85102,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85100\/revisions\/85102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}