Gilgit glaciers

The wrath of global warming — brought on by the reckless actions of human beings themselves — has descended on residents of Gilgit. A small glacier in the Ishkoman Valley of Ghizer District — and let us underscore small — has melted, causing flooding of the Gonarforam stream. Floodwaters inundated cultivated lands, marooned thousands of people killing at least two, swept away cattle, and submerged part of the famed Karakoram Highway. The melting of the Batsuwat Glacier supplied the Batsuwat Nullah to flow downstream and cause a chain of unfortunate events impacting ten villages and multiple districts via flooding and landslides. Nature has fired a warning shot. Once the frenzied infatuation with the elections ceases, authorities must catapult into action through improved policymaking and concrete blueprints on how to manage the impact of global warming.

Two areas are to be considered during this catastrophe. One, with Pakistan poised to be among the top ten countries that will be most disadvantaged as a result of rising greenhouse gases, certain steps need to be taken with conservative boundaries set on permitted emissions. This could be in the way of requiring older vehicles to be retired, improving public transport, regulating waste management, limiting the meat and dairy industries and levying heavy fines on persons and corporations polluting our ocean, one of Pakistan’s biggest assets. It is too much to ask stakeholders to respect the land in gratitude for supporting human life, so perhaps if they view it as an asset in financial terms, the long slumber may finally end. The second area to be considered is our disaster management capabilities. Over the next few days, we will be eager to see how the displaced villagers are facilitated by rescue officials.

Prudence needs to prevail now in terms of disaster management as cataclysm will likely continue making its entry onto our land and larger glaciers will likely melt.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 23^rd, 2018.

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