{"id":124976,"date":"2026-09-18T11:01:27","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T05:31:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=124976"},"modified":"2026-09-18T11:01:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T05:31:27","slug":"himalayan-glaciers-and-peak-water-why-indias-gdp-is-at-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/himalayan-glaciers-and-peak-water-why-indias-gdp-is-at-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"Himalayan Glaciers and Peak Water: Why India\u2019s GDP Is at Risk"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Himalayan Glaciers Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The recent floods along the Trishuli River in Nepal have put the Himalayas&#8217; melting glaciers back in focus.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the damage from a warming Himalaya is not only sudden disasters. It is also a slow economic drain as glaciers retreat, water supplies grow unreliable and rivers that sustain agriculture, industry, cities and hydropower change course.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A new report puts a number on this dependence: more than one-fifth of India&#8217;s GDP is underpinned by the Himalayas.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Report<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The report, &#8220;<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A Resilient Himalaya: Protecting a Region at Risk and Securing Future Prosperity<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;, was compiled by the global consultancy Systemiq in partnership with the Integrated Mountain Initiative.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was supported by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Nepal, and the GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment, Uttarakhand.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The 21.5 Per Cent Figure<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The report estimates that Rs 64.8 lakh crore, or 21.5 per cent of India&#8217;s FY24 GDP, depends on the Himalayas. This does not mean glacier melt would erase 21.5 per cent of GDP.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The figure measures economic activity traceable to Himalayan water, not projected climate damage.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was calculated in three layers:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Direct:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Gross State Domestic Product of Himalayan states.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Indirect:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Downstream agriculture, manufacturing, hydropower and services that rely on Himalayan-fed rivers and groundwater recharge (rain-fed production excluded).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Induced:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Supply-chain effects (such as tractors sold from southern states to the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/indo-gangetic-plains\/\" target=\"_blank\">Indo-Gangetic Plains<\/a><\/strong>) and wage-spending effects (money spent on food and services).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Why Glaciers Matter to the Economy<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Glaciers act as natural water stores. They hold water as ice and release meltwater into rivers, especially during the dry season.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Himalayas feed the Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra river systems, which support:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wheat and rice cultivation across the Indo-Gangetic plain<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tea in Assam and Bengal<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hydropower in the Northeast<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pilgrimage economies in downstream towns<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Gangotri glacier, for instance, is the primary source of the Bhagirathi, which becomes the Ganga.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Understanding &#8220;Peak Water&#8221;<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As warming accelerates melting, glaciers release extra water into rivers. But this cannot continue forever. Himalayan river basins are expected to reach &#8220;Peak Water&#8221; around the middle of this century.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is the point at which glacier meltwater reaches its maximum. After that, flows begin to decline as the ice reserve shrinks.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On current trajectories, the Hindu Kush Himalaya could lose up to 80 per cent of its present glacier volume by 2100.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Himalayas as a Disaster Hotspot<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Himalayas account for 18 per cent of India&#8217;s land area but around 35 per cent of its disasters. Disasters trigger a damaging cycle:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Food and water insecurity<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Disrupted supply chains<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Displacement of people<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rising macroeconomic and sovereign-debt pressures<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reconstruction spending that leaves less money for future resilience<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Black Carbon Connection<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While much of the damage stems from global warming, the report identifies a local source of emissions India can control quickly: black carbon, the soot produced by incomplete combustion.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Key findings:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recent modelling attributes about one-third of Himalayan glacier mass loss to South Asian black carbon.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Industry, primarily brick kilns, contributes 32\u201342 per cent of South Asian anthropogenic black carbon deposition across the region.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cutting kiln emissions tackles local air pollution and glacier melt through the same plume.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When black carbon settles on snow, it darkens the surface. The snow then absorbs more sunlight instead of reflecting it.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As per the reports, this &#8220;<\/span><b>snow darkening<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8221; effect alone adds about 40 watts per square metre of surface heating across the Himalaya in spring.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Brick Kiln Solution<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The report proposes a targeted fund to modernise brickmaking by upgrading viable kilns, retiring the worst-performing ones and reducing demand for fired bricks.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Zigzag kiln technology, which burns fuel more efficiently, cuts black carbon and particulate emissions by roughly 70 per cent and fuel use by 20\u201330 per cent.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But adoption is uneven:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Punjab and Haryana have completed the switch to zigzag kilns.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Uttar Pradesh, India&#8217;s largest brick producer, is at only 56 per cent.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The rest of India still runs on traditional technology.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Beyond Brick Kilns<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Experts caution that kilns are not the whole story.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Real progress requires tackling kilns, cookstoves, transport and crop-residue burning together, coordinated at the airshed scale rather than kiln by kiln or city by city.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Himalayas are both a water tower and a disaster hotspot for India, underpinning over a fifth of its GDP. With &#8220;peak water&#8221; approaching mid-century and glacier loss of up to 80 per cent possible by 2100, the threat is structural.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While global warming needs global action, black carbon from brick kilns is a lever India can pull now, with immediate gains for both air quality and glacier health.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-climate\/himalayas-melting-glaciers-20-of-india-gdp-at-risk-10881939\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Himalayan glaciers underpin over one-fifth of India\u2019s GDP. Their retreat, peak water and black carbon pollution pose growing risks to water, agriculture and energy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":125009,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[10317,60,22,59],"class_list":["post-124976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","tag-himalayan-glaciers","tag-mains-articles","tag-upsc-current-affairs","tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124976"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":125004,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124976\/revisions\/125004"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}