40 per cent of world populations depend on Himalayan ecology system

Chandigarh: Himalayas play a vital role in modulating global weather and climate, especially the Asian Monsoon. The large rivers viz. Indus, Ganges, Brahmputra, Irrawaddy, Salween, Mekong, Yangtze and Yellow originate from the Himalayas and provide much of the freshwater to 1.4 billion people in Asia.
Their river plans provide food to almost 40 per cent of the world’s population, said Prof. Nayak, Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bengaluru on the forum of Society for Promotion of Science & Technology in India (SPSTI) and Chandigarh Chapter of National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI) on Tuesday, March 09, 2021.
The Webinar was organized with support from Haryana State Council for Science, Innovation and Technology with a motive to aware people of the profound impact of the Himalayas on the social, economic, cultural and demography of India, Bhutan, Tibet, China, Nepal and Pakistan. Prof. Nayak delivered the talk online on “Cooperation to Preserve the Himalayan Ecological System” which was coordinated by Prof. Arun K. Grover, former Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University. Prof. R. Baskar, of the Department of Environmental Studies, GJU Hisar introduced the speaker formally.
Prof. Nayak explained how the Himalayas gradually formed at the place of Tethys sea as a result of the collisions of Indian and European plates. While discussing the earthquake research and statistics of mega earthquakes that happened in the past, he emphasized the requirement of a coordination program to understand earthquake processes with neighbourhood countries.
He discussed snow, glaciers, lakes, Tibetan Plateau, Himalayan rivers, floods in NW Himalayas, rockslides and water resources. “The Himalayan region is under stress due to border conflicts between Pakistan, India and China. The military presence on permafrost and glaciers has led to increased avalanches and landslides,” he said.
While concluding, Prof. Nayak said that it is very difficult for a single country to generate knowledge on the Himalayas. An international partnership is required to improve understanding of the earth system processes and developing numerical weather, climate hazards for the country and neighbouring region viz. BIMSTEC.