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Glacier marriages to help generate water resources

By Our Correspondent
July 05, 2020

Islamabad : The ministry of climate change is facilitating the efforts aiming at ‘marriages’ of glaciers that help generate water resources for the local people to cultivate crops to meet their food requirements.

Many non-government organizations such as United Nations development project (UNDP), the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and Agha Khan Rural Support Programme have also been providing help to the local people to carry out such kinds of projects.

The glaciers are given male and female identities. Male glaciers are grey in colour, having a lot of debris and gives off little water meanwhile female glaciers are shiny white or blue and gives off a lot of water.

Two solid pieces measuring 35 kg are taken each from male and female glaciers and packed carefully in coal and barley hay to keep them safe from warmer temperature in a cave or deep pit in a mountain–-situated at least 4,000 to 5,000 meters above sea level.

Then this pack of glaciers is taken to the selected place where it is covered with mixture of mud, ash and charcoal with heavy stones encircling the site.

This ‘marriage’ often gives birth to new glacier after ten to twelve years that provide plenty of water to the local people to cultivate crops such as wheat, millet, barley and vegetables.

According to the scientific researches, when hard ice mass is placed somewhere under specific conditions it starts accumulation by solidifying rainfall, humidity in clouds and snow in winter. When the rate of accumulation becomes greater than the rate of ablation (melting and sublimation) the ice mass starts growing in size.

The spokesperson of the ministry of climate change said the temperature in the Hindukush-Himalayas region is increasing due to which there are reports about glaciers that are melting at a faster pace so in this kind of situation grafting artificial glaciers is considered to be a suitable option to combat this problem.