Receding of Gangotri Glacier in India

A valley in Gangotri leading to Gangotri glacier. Locals say that hundreds of years ago the Gangotri glacier would have reached all the way down the valley.

Unique identifier: GP01XY8

Type: Image

Shoot date: 03/06/2009

Locations: Gangotri, Himalayas, India, South Asia

Credit line: © Greenpeace / Peter Caton

Ranking: ★★★★ (E)

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Climate Voices from Gangotri India

The source of the Ganges, Asia's longest and most auspicious river, is being heavily affected by climate change: the Gangotri glacier, one of the largest in the Himalayas, is receding at around 25 meters a year; the mouth where the “holy” river flows from the glacier has started to shrink. Snow that once laid on all the mountain peaks has disappeared and the peaks are now bare and only display snow for a few hours after an unusually cold night. The land is naked and barren. Doves and crows are seeing flying above - something that would have been unheard of a decade ago at such a high altitude. If the Gangotri glacier continues to recede at this current rate the Ganges river will only be fed by the seasonal monsoon. The consequences for billions of Indian people in the world’s most densely populated regions would be immense. If the glacier disappears the rice bowl of India that relies on irrigation from the Ganges will be empty causing catastrophic food shortages.

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