Experts link glacier lake melt to deforestation, rising temperature in KP

By Shah Faisal

Peshawar: Provincial Coordinator of glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF-II) project, Fahad Bangash has revealed that due to rising temperature 33 out of 3,044 Glacier’s lakes in Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, are melting rapidly which can cause hazardous glacial lake outburst flooding (GLOF) in the area.

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“More than 5,000 glaciers exist in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and KP in which at least 33 were identified as potentially dangerous which can cause hazardous glacial lakes outburst flooding (GLOF) as it can also release millions of cubic meters of water and debris leading to the loss of lives, property and live hoods” he said. He added that now it is time to create awareness among people regarding the climate change to play their roles in stopping the deforestation and use of plastics (waste products) as these are some of the main reasons of melting the glacier lakes in Pakistan.

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Regarding the Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF-II) project, Bangash informed that more than 65,000 women will be trained in home gardening, 240 water-efficient, farming technologies will be installed and 35,000 hectares land will be reforested with the aim to improve the food security and reduce flood due to forestation in the Chitral.

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[Chitral’s DC, Naveed Ahmad] added that we repaired infrastructure after flood every year but now its need of the hour that we should build roads, water pipeline and houses in alternate way to save human losses and infrastructure.

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