Recent studies by many institutions may have cautioned against the alarming pace at which Himalayan glaciers are melting, but many experts challenge their findings. In Shimla to attend the Chief Ministers’ Conclave on Indian Himalayas: Glaciers, Climate Change and Livelihoods, they pointed out discrepancies in the data and said the situation was not as alarming as was being depicted.

Dr Akhilesh Gupta, Advisor Scientist and Coordinator of National Climate Change Programme of the Government of India, described the hype over melting of glaciers as pressure tactics being used against India by developed countries to reduce carbon emissions.

“Many studies have shown that glaciers in Jammu and Kashmir had not receded at all and were static as compared to the previous available data. We cannot ignore the threat, but we should not panic and abandon development either. We still have time to adopt more sustainable models,” he said.

A majority of the researchers still feel that there is a big gap between the required and available information to assess the status of glaciers. The Centre proposes to set up a world-class institute on glaciological studies in one of the five Himalyan states of Himachal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir. Gupta was talking to the media on the sidelines of the conclave. At the conference, many experts quoted studies that arrived at the conclusion that there had been nearly 20 per cent recession of glaciers between 1962 and 2004.

Dr Milap Chand Sharma of Jawaharlal Nehru University said: “To study glaciers, the method of comparing the topo-sheet data of 1962 with satellite images of successive years is technically incorrect as the variation of facts is large.” During a recent study by using satellite images of 1974 as baseline, he found the net recession of glaciers since 1974 was just about one percent and even less after 2000.

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