What happens to the 9000 glaciers covering 38,000 square km of the Himalayas holds the key to understanding the effects of climate change in India and evolving a strategy to tackle it. For, glacial melt feeds the Indus, Ganga, the Brahmaputra rivers and their tributaries, affects temperature in the plains and its study is vital to planning hydroelectric projects, roads, and flood-management systems.

And yet, the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) — considered the last word on the science of the subject — makes no specific mention of these glaciers in its chapter on Snow, Ice and Frozen Ground.

Reason: data sent by Indian scientists and official agencies was so scarce and sketchy that it did not provide any detailed insight other than the broad trend that glaciers were receding. This despite the fact that an institute exclusively for glacial studies was cleared by the Planning Commission, even a budget was fixed for it but it’s been in deep freeze for over eight years now.

Admits Renoj Thayyen of the National Institute of Hydrology who was one of the scientists in an IPCC working group: “The IPCC report is a global synthesis of knowledge generated on climate change science and obviously biased towards regions where most authentic knowledge base has been generated. Due to near total neglect of Himalayan glaciers, impact of climate on glaciers did not influence the current IPCC report.”

“There is no getting away from the fact that our data base is weak. Although there is enough evidence that glaciers are receding, it’s mostly anecdotal based on visible signs. We have no time series data for glaciers,” said R K Pachauri, chair of IPCC. “While there is assessment of aggregate change, we do not have the rate of change which has huge implications for the hydrology of the country.”

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