The United Nations (UN) has launched worlds biggest glacier mapping project in the northern areas of Pakistan, which will be able to calculate the rate at which the ice melts and therefore help make an early warning system to evade catastrophes like the recent floods in the future.
According to the news, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) will be soon mapping 5,000 glaciers in the coming 1.5 years, as stated by the agencys representative in Pakistan, Knut Ostby. Pakistan is home to the worlds highest number of glaciers.
It is a high-priority mission as the risk of floods in the area grows manifold after the melting of glaciers and the subsequent forming of numerous lakes in the mountains. Pakistan has been adversely hit by unprecedented floods this year, as per the news, it had lost 1,500 lives and sustained damage worth around $10 billion, as almost one-third of the country became completely submerged.?
The devastating floods showed just how vulnerable the country is to the consequences of climate change.
Moreover, Otsby said that the project will help establish comprehensive solutions to the melting of the third pole, i.e. the snow-covered Hindu Kush-Himalaya-Karakoram mountains of South Asia, which are said to be the worlds largest store of permanent ice and permafrost other than the north and south poles of the Earth.
He further disclosed that the agency would be making early warning systems in the northern areas, in the provinces of Gilgit Baltistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. In contrast, another 110 valleys will also require similar systems.
Besides, the UNDP is also helping the country in approaching international insurance companies to negotiate disaster risk insurance. So far Pakistan has received $154 million in funds as one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, Otsby said, however, the UNs appeal to raise $160 million for the countrys flood victims has not completely materialized.?
?