Ice stupas fight climate change

Global warming adversely affects tourism destinations, resulting in some very innovative solutions, writes Andrew Drummond Law

Ladakh’s beautiful mountain ranges.

Climate change is a real threat to Ladakh’s livelihood.

The main bus station was destroyed with buses carried nearly 2km away by the mud.

I had arrived in Ladakh the year after the tragedy, in early May.

During April and May, there are usually acute water shortages as there is still too little glacial melt water in the streams, a time when all the villages are competing to irrigate their newly planted crops.

But by mid-June there is too much water and flash flooding often occurs, caused by the fast melting snow and mountain glaciers.

As the Himalayan glaciers disappear, due to increased global warming, the problem for the farmers and local population, heavily dependent upon tourism, increases.

The need for a constant and controllable water supply has become acute.

INNOVAtIVE WAtER StORAGE SOLUtION

One solution is to create artificial glaciers shaped like conical pyramids.

These store the wasted winter water in the form of small, slowly melting icemountains, slowly releasing the water to farms when the water is most needed in early spring, when sowing takes place.

This storage method prevents all the water flowing down into the streams, saving it for when the fields need watering most.

Grafting glaciers is not a new idea in Ladakh. But the age-old method of horizontal ice creation is better for altitudes above 40,000m only. And it requires constant maintenance, and a north-facing valley to shade the ice from the harsh spring sun.

Meanwhile, the new alternative method Ladakh is famous for its high

altitude, cold desert.

sprays water out of a vertical pipe, freezing the stream water in the shape of a huge ice cone that grows 30-50-metres high. Its shape is similar to the stupas found in this part of India.

These ice stupas are simple to create, relatively low cost and a very effective method to store water for the crops early on in the year and to help regulate the water supply, rather than have it all melt away at once.

Ladakh’s shrinking glaciers, increasingly irregular rainfall and lower snowfall are all signs of a new era, where climate change will alter the world’s current population distribution.

No water. No food. No local population — no tourism. To see how ice stupas are created, go to www.icestupa.org