Ecology and environment: Experts stress need for awareness among mountain communities

ISLAMABAD: Experts have urged upon the government to create awareness about the Karakoram Anomaly, ecology and environment among mountain communities to maintain the required ecological harmony.

This was the crux of the interaction of the experts on Karakoram Anomaly held here on Saturday at the National Press Club.

According to the experts, the projected 1.5-degree Celsius rise in global temperature could occur in the 2040s, which is 10 years sooner than the earlier projections. A slight rise in global temperatures could be disastrous for large segments of the population especially the most vulnerable communities living in the mountain regions.

Among other experts, Khan Faraz stated that Pakistan was host to more than 7,000 glaciers, which were showing mixed behaviours, wherein the south- and east-facing glaciers were melting at a faster rate than the ones facing north.

The Karakoram Anomaly, which maintains that the glaciers of the Karakoram mountain range are either surging or are stable. However, overall the glaciers were melting at a much faster rate. The mountain ecosystems could not be isolated from other ecosystems because there were downstream and upstream connections between them, Khan Faraz maintained.

Also, the mountains are an important source of water and livelihoods for communities not only in the mountainous areas but also in the downstream river basins.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021