Climate change is real. What we are experiencing today, like unseasonal rainfall, deadly storms and floods, melting glaciers and prolonged heatwaves are the beginning of the end of the earth. Ahead of the Global Climate Summit, COP26, the UNDP launched a campaign- “Don’t Choose Extinction” to warn where we’re headed to.
At the heart of the campaign is a short film. In the film, one of the world’s well-known extinct animals comes bursting into the General Assembly Hall, where world leaders have made history-making speeches. The dinosaur tells an audience of shocked and bewildered diplomats to start making changes to address the climate crisis:
“I know a thing or two about extinction, and let me tell you, and you would kind of think this would be obvious, going extinct is a bad thing. And driving yourselves extinct? In 70 million years that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. At least we had an asteroid, what’s your excuse. You’re headed for a climate disaster.”
As the warming global temperature causes glaciers to melt rapidly, the Glacier Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) threat looms large in Bhutan. Despite being carbon negative, Bhutan remains critically vulnerable to the impact of climate change.
At more than 4,000 metres above sea level, Lunana is among the highest human settlements in the world. The remote highland community is home to four glacial lakes- Beytso, Raphstreng, Thorthomi and Lugge. The latter three are among Bhutan’s 17 potentially dangerous glacial lakes.
“In 2002, when I visited this same area, we could cross over to the glaciers on the main Thorthomi lake and walk down. But now at present as you see, we cannot go over. Everything has melted. These ice chunks are floating. These are not intact, but all icebergs. So it’s very risky to walk on. This is mainly occurring because of excessive melting,” said Karma, a Glaciologist at the National Center for Hydrology and Meteorology.
The last time Bhutan experienced GLOF was in 1994 from the Lugge lake, leaving a trail of destruction along its path. Concerns are mounting that Bhutan could face a more severe flood in the future as climate change intensifies.
“Although Raphstreng is a fully developed lake, Throthomi is still in the growing stage. Our fear is Thorthomi will turn into something like Raphstreng one day. Should this happen, the strength of the moraine dam between Throthomi and Raphstreng is in no place to hold the hydrostatic pressure from Thorthomi,” he said.
“The water from Throthomi will flow into Raphtsreng and this will trigger a combined GLOF and this is what we consider as a worst-case scenario with an estimated flood volume of 53 million cubic metres. That’s about four times more than the magnitude of the 1994 GLOF.”
Bearing the brunt of climate change is the agriculture sector, affecting the livelihoods of Bhutanese. While some communities are grappling with water scarcity as climate change causes springs and other sources to dry up, some are experiencing increased incidences of flash floods as the country experiences erratic and intense rainfall.
The latest UN report warns that unless rapid and deep reductions in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions occur in the coming decades, achieving the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement will be beyond reach. One of the goals of the Paris agreement is limiting global warming below 2 degree Celsius.
The COP26 remains the world’s best chance to make decisive commitments towards a zero-carbon future. It started on Sunday and will go on until 12th November.
Sangay Chezom
Edited by Sonam
