Apex body for glacier management

The Parliamentary Standing Committee has recommended setting up an overarching apex body for glacier management in the country.

 Glacier Management in India:

• There are different ministries/departments/institutions with different mandates for dealing with hydro-meteorological and hydro-geological hazards of Himalayan glaciers.
• While the glaciers are surveyed and their detailed inventory is maintained by the Geological Survey of India, Ministry of Mines; the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change looks into all matters related to climate change.
• The Department of Science & Technology is involved in conducting research on glaciers and the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research has done some studies on the Himalayan Cryosphere.

Recommendations of the Committee:

• New strategies:
  • Given the strategic role and importance of glaciers as a vital national resource, there is a critical and imperative need as never before, to formulate new strategies for combating the challenges posed by the climate change and global warming in the glacier management.
• Single nodal agency:
  • Committee recommended setting up a single nodal agency for bringing out synergies among various government departments/ministries involved in glaciological research and monitoring.
  • Such an agency should be entrusted with the responsibility of coordinating the activities of all the departments/agencies involved in Himalayan glaciers’ monitoring and research work.
• Role of concerned agencies:
  • Committee urge upon the Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation to play a lead role in this regard so as to take the matter to its logical conclusion.

• Glaciers are large, thick masses of ice that form on land when fallen snow gets compressed into ice over many centuries.
• Presently, 10 percent of land area on Earth is covered with glacial ice, including glaciers, ice caps, and the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica.
• In India, mostly glaciers are confined to the Himalayan region, specifically in Greater Himalayan ranges.
• Glacierized areas cover over 15 million square kilometres (5.8 million square miles).
• Glaciers store about 69 percent of the world's fresh water.

Glacier mapping in India:

• There are about 15,000 glaciers in the Himalayas.
• Total area of Himalayas is about five lakh square kilometres (Area of India is nearly 32 lakh sq km). About 33,000 sq.km area is covered by snow.
• The snow line (the lowest level of perpetual snow) varies in different parts of the Himalayas depending upon latitude, amount of precipitation and local topography.

Significance of Glaciers:

• Glaciers as Reservoirs:About three-quarters of Earth's freshwater is stored in glaciers. Therefore, glacier ice is the second-largest reservoir of water on Earth and the largest reservoir of freshwater on Earth.
  • The cold runoff from glaciers also affects downstream water temperatures.
• Glacier-feeding Rivers:The Gangotri Glacier, one of the largest glaciers in the Himalayan Mountains, is the source of the Ganga River.
  • The Ganges is the most important source of fresh water and electricity in India and Bangladesh.
• Glaciers for Aquatic Life: Many aquatic species in mountainous environments require cold water temperatures to survive which is provided by Glaciers.
  • Some aquatic insects are especially sensitive to stream temperature and cannot survive without the cooling effects of glacial melt water.
  • Such changes in stream habitat may also adversely impact native trout and other keystone salmon species.
• Glaciers for People:Glaciers provide people with many useful resources. Glacial till provides fertile soil for growing crops.
  • Deposits of sand and gravel are used to make concrete and asphalt.