RISHIKESH, India
Hundreds of people gather at the bank of the Ganges River as the sun sets. Many of them are dressed in saffron-coloured clothes and are seated around a pyre. They sing hymns in praise of the river goddess. The smell of sandalwood incense hangs in the air. But these prayer rituals at the river may not last forever — or even another generation.
Swami Chidanand Saraswati, the priest leading the prayers, says Indians are obliged to protect the holy river, known in India as Ganga. “To me if Ganga dies, India dies. If Ganga thrives, India thrives. Losing a glacier means losing life; water is life, water is a blessing. That’s why it’s our prime duty to save the glaciers,” said Saraswati.
The Ganges has long flowed thick and strong. But researchers say that climate change is having a serious impact on the river. Rising temperatures have caused the glaciers that feed the river to melt rapidly, said B.G. Sharma, a geography professor. “In this area the temperature has risen by 0.9 degrees. Due to the rise in temperature, the glaciers are melting so fast. At this speed, there are chances that by the year 2030, these glaciers that feed the Ganges won’t exist anymore,” Sharma said.
Sharma has been studying the glaciers in the Himalayan mountain range for 16 years. “There are 46,000 glaciers in the Himalayan region and 614 such glaciers feed water to the river Ganges. But, out of that number, more than 400 glaciers are melting at a very high speed,” Sharma said, adding that the glaciers are becoming 23 meters shorter every year.
Mahesh Sharma, a journalist who wrote a book about the history of the Himalayas, travels to the glaciers every year. In the past three decades he said he saw a radical change in the glaciers. “In the year 1983, I went to the Gomukh glacier for the first time in my life. This is the glacier from where the river Ganges originates. This year when I went there, I saw a radical change. The glacier had broken and had been pushed back by 1.5 kilometres.”
“As the Himalayas have the highest numbers of glaciers in the world, global warming will affect the entire world,” Sharma noted.
One Himalayan glacier called the Gangotri provides up to 70 per cent of water to the Ganges during dry summer months. Gangotri is shrinking 36 meters every year — nearly twice the rate of change 20 years ago.
Chote Lal Chaurasia, 68, is a cobbler who has had a stall at the banks of the Ganges for 45 years. He noticed a change in the river too. “Four months ago, the level of the river Ganges suddenly dropped. ... I have seen for the first time in my life people walking in the Ganges to another bank. The water level was below the waist height.”
The 2523km Ganges provides water for drinking and farming for more than 500 million people. The World Wildlife Fund has listed it as one of the world’s most endangered rivers.
Bharose Nand Kukreti, 48, a local taxi driver, said that as a child there were big waterfalls connected to the river that he used to play in. Now, he said, they are just small streams.
