India should take lead in preserving glaciers, Wangchuk writes to PM

Fresh from his tour to the US, where he carried a piece of ice from a glacier in Ladakh to flag their fast melting, climate activist Sonam Wangchuk has written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stating that India should take the lead in addressing the issue.

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Wangchuk said if steps were not taken to restore these glaciers, which were the source of their perennial rivers, the next Maha Kumbh after 144 years might be held on sand as the rivers might dry up. Wangchuk, who has been working on preserving Himalayan glaciers, travelled from Ladakh to Delhi, and then to the US with a piece of ice from a glacier in Khardung La. The ice was placed in a container wrapped in Ladakh’s iconic Pashmina wool for insulation. The ice was taken to the UN office in Delhi, before he flew to the US.

“India needs to take a lead in glacier preservation as we have the Himalayas, and our sacred rivers such as the Ganga and Yamuna come out of them,” Wangchuk said. “As we all know, the glaciers of the Himalayas are melting very fast and if this and the accompanying deforestation continues at the current rate, in few decades our sacred Ganga, Brahmaputra and Indus rivers might become seasonal rivers,” he said.