Bring out the relationship between the shrinking Himalayan... | UPSC 2014 GS1 PYQ

MAINS 2014

GS1

10 marks

Bring out the relationship between the shrinking Himalayan glaciers and the symptoms of climate change in the Indian sub-continent.

WRITE IN

7 min

150 words

What the examiner wants

Link shrinking Himalayan glaciers to visible climate change symptoms in the Indian subcontinent.

Bring outMake the main points or contrast clear with examples.

1Cause: warming faster at altitude, black carbon deposits, less winter snowfall≈30 words
2Symptoms: changed river flows (early peak, later decline), glacial lakes and GLOFs, landslides, cloudbursts, water stress in Indus basin≈30 words
3Impacts: hydropower, agriculture in Indo-Gangetic plains, drinking water, mountain livelihoods, transboundary tensions≈30 words
4Response: NMSHE, glacier monitoring, early warning for GLOFs, regional cooperation (ICIMOD)≈30 words

Open in about 20 words and close in about 20.

Status of glaciersCausesSymptoms with Indian eventsImpactsResponse

Flowchart: warming → glacier melt → glacial lake growth → GLOF → downstream damage

ReportEven if warming is limited to 1.5 degrees C, about one-third of Hindu Kush Himalaya glaciers will be lost by 2100; two-thirds under high emissions.ICIMOD HKH Assessment, 2019
ExampleSouth Lhonak lake GLOF in Sikkim (October 2023) destroyed the Teesta-III dam at Chungthang.NDMA reports, 2023
ExampleIPCC AR4 (2007) wrongly said Himalayan glaciers could vanish by 2035; IPCC retracted it in 2010.IPCC, 2010

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