From the Financial Times:
Himalayan glaciers are melting faster than any other body of ice as a result of climate change, threatening devastating consequences to the livelihoods of millions of people dependent on the river Ganges, the Nepalese government has warned.
Speaking at a two-day Himalayan climate change conference in Kathmandu, Madhav Kumar, Nepal’s prime minister, said: “The Himalayan glaciers are retreating faster than any other glaciers in the world as the temperature is increasing.”
“The potentially catastrophic impact on lives and livelihoods has assumed a huge importance in our international relations,” he added.
The Nepali leader’s comments, intended to raise the mountain republic’s concerns ahead of the UN climate change talks in Copenhagen in December, contradict those of top officials from neighbouring India. More:
India’s Kullu valley, also known as the valley of the gods, is a favourite with backpackers and trekkers. But over the last few years several foreign tourists have mysteriously disappeared or have been found dead. From the Indian Express:
On July 21 this year, Amichai Steinmetz checked out of the guesthouse in Kullu, Himachal Pradesh, where he had been staying. Amichai, who holds both US and Israeli passports, and his Israeli friend were to go trekking from Khirganga, a hamlet in Parvati valley of Kullu, to the forests of Bunbuni. According to Amichai’s friend, they separated soon after they began, agreeing to reach Bunbuni from different routes, and planned to meet again in Khirganga the same evening. Amichai never returned. His friend says he didn’t meet him at Bunbuni either.
On Monday, August 17, a US Embassy team arrived from New Delhi to meet K.K. Indoria, Superintendent of Police, Kullu. The team, which included an officer of the diplomatic security service of the US Department of State, had come to inquire about the Amichai case.
Twenty-four-year-old Amichai is the 19th foreign tourist to have gone missing in Kullu (mostly from Parvati valley) since 1992. That’s an unsettling statistic for a tourist haven that is called the ‘Valley of Gods’, whose valleys and ridges offer a favourite setting for trekkers and tourists. Apart from the list of missing foreigners, official government records say 57 foreigners have died in the region between 1998 and 2009. Most of these deaths are attributed to accidents or drug overdose. But there have been murders too. Like that of Martin Young, a British national who died in a murderous assault in 2000. Similarly, Alessandra Verdi’s death in 2001 was described as murder. The Italian tourist’s body was recovered from the Parvati river bank. More:
[Image: Fabrice/Travellerspoint]
A California professor recreates Asia’s most magnificent mountains via computer. From Asia Sentinel:
Seemingly real enough for digital Tomb Raider Lara Croft to scamper around in, this is the Himalaya Atlas of Aerial Panoramas, a unique digital collection of more than 700 images, depicting the world’s most spectacular mountain range, from Arunachal Pradesh in the east to Uttar Pradesh in the west .
Dr William Bowen, a California State University, Northridge geographer and the project’s creator, said he initially began making digital photo maps to give his students a visual of the material they covered in class.
More here and here:
