A new study has revealed that permafrost in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh is thawing due to climate change. This is the ice that has been frozen for thousands of years and its thawing poses far-reaching environmental challenges for the region and beyond.
Significantly, permafrost covers nearly 65% of J&K and Ladakh. Over a quarter of this is continuously frozen, providing stability to glaciers, river systems, and even entire settlements. But rising temperatures are disrupting this delicate equilibrium. This primarily doesn’t bode well for the water resources. Glaciers and permafrost act as natural reservoirs. They gradually release water to sustain water bodies through dry months. But should they thaw earlier, as is happening due to rising temperatures, this will make river flows erratic, which, in turn, will affect the agriculture, power and water supply.
There are larger environmental consequences for the region. Permafrost stores carbon and methane, and once it melts it releases these into the atmosphere, This, in turn, will aggravate the existing global warmingWhat is more, thawing permafrost could awaken ancient microbes, posing unforeseen threats to public health.
With glaciers also gradually receding over the past two decades, it is a double whammy. It threatens the discharge in the region’s water bodies. Thawing of glaciers is taking place all over J&K as well as Ladakh. Climate change in the Himalayas is triggered largely by global factors such as rising temperatures due to greenhouse gas emissions, industrial and agricultural activity, as well as deforestation at a global level.
This has created two immediate problems for our region: one, the glaciers are melting and another due to increasingly snowless winters, glaciers are not adequately replenished.
Kashmir witnesses its heaviest snow during chilai kalan and the snowfall progressively reduces in February and March when spring sets in. But this year chilai kalan was completely dry, the last such seasons were in 2015 and 2018. This winter, and the 2023-24 winter, more or less, also were largely dry.
Heavy snow in these two months helps in the glacier formation which in turn charges up the Valley’s water bodies through summer. So increasing the frequency of dry winters signals trouble. More so, at a time when the Valley’s major glaciers have shown marked signs of depletion in recent decades. Biggest of them is the Kolahai glacier. The area of Kolahai, according to a study, has retreated to 11.24 square kilometers from 13.87 sq kms since 1976. This doesn’t augur well for the future. Kashmir’s plight is not an isolated event, but a harbinger of what awaits us all if the world continues down this path of unchecked environmental degradation.
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