Some glaciers in Sikkim have been melting over the years due to global warming and posing “environment hazards in the region.

The threat of global warming is becoming bigger with every passing day. Recently a British expedition has found that some glaciers in the North district of Sikkim have been melting over the years due to global warming and posed “environment hazards in the region as well as drying up the water flow in Teesta and Rangeet rivers in the State”.

The team, which was on a 28-day expedition to Goechala Green lake trek, observed that the landscapes of the glaciers like Zemu, Thongsong and Talung had changed irreversibly over the past 80 years.

The expedition team, which had a map of the trek route undertaken by a British army official in 1930, found to their dismay that the Talung glacier had shrunk by about 70 metres since 80 years ago.

The team discovered that it had to descend down to 70 metres from a hill and climb the steep slopes to navigate the stretch around Talung glacier, which they claimed, could be walked across in 1930. The British expedition team also found that Talung glacier was no no longer connected to Thongsong glacier as was recorded in the photographs and the map which they had with them.

Thongsong glacier has been separated from Talung glacier and the thickness of the snow cover of the two glaciers have receded over the years due to global warming.

Describing as ‘alarming’ the meltdown of the age-old glaciers in Sikkim, the members of the British expedition team said that they would bring out a report on the issue to draw the attention of the world.

They also found that the Talung, Thongsong and Zemu glaciers which were interconnected with each other till decades ago as illustrated by the photographs and map with them, were now separate entities, which, they said, reflected the impact of global warming on the glaciers.

The British team attributed the meltdown of these glaciers to “not only global warming and rapid industrialisation in the world, but also to the mountain tourism encouraged by the State Government authorities to augment income of the local people.” The British expedition would soon bring out a report about their observations and experience of the trek featuring primarily the impact of global warming on the glaciers in Sikkim.

Meanwhile, alarmed by the reports of the meltdown of the glaciers in North Sikkim due to global warming, the State Government has decided to send a high-level team of Glaciologists led by Prof S I Hasnain, to study the issue and suggest remedial measures, a government official said.

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