Gilgit Baltistan farmers make artificial glaciers to boost water supply

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Husseinabad: Farmers facing water shortages, under the cold covered peaks of the country’s northern boundaries, have turned to the construction of their ice towers.

In the remote hills of Gilgit Baltistan (GB), the house of K2, the world’s second flexible mountain-wind changes, has reduced snowfall and the snow has decreased, which has traditionally maintained the valleys of the region.

In the scardu, standing at the height of 2,600 meters (8,200 feet) below the Karakoram range, local farmers began searching for the Internet to solve their apple and apricot gardens.

“We discovered artificial glaciers on YouTube,” Ghulam Haider Hashmi told AFP. “

He watched videos of environmental activist and engineer Sonam Wangchk in the Indian region of Ladakh, crossing a highly patrol border less than 200 km, which had developed the technique about 10 years ago.

Water is piped from rivers to the village and sprayed in the air during winter temperatures.

“Water must be pushed forward so that it falls down in the air when the temperature falls below zero, which produces ice towers,” said Bulletistan University professor Zakir Hussain Zakir.

Ice is made in the form of cone that is similar to Buddhist stopas, and operates as a storage system – when the temperature rises, the spring melts permanently.

‘Icestopas’

GB has 13,000 glaciers – more than any other country on the ground outside the polar regions.

Their beauty has made the region one of the top tourist destinations in the country-the peak peaks on top of the old silk road, which is still visible from the highway moving tourists between cherry gardens, glaciers and ice Blue Lakes.

Sher Mohammed, the Hinduk-Hamalian mountainous expert, who extends from Afghanistan to Myanmar, said that most of the region’s water supply comes from melting snow in the spring, which is a part of the annual snow melting in the summer.

“From the end of October to early April, we were receiving heavy snowfall, but in the past few years, it is dry,” Mohammad told AFP, a researcher at the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).

The first “Icestopas” in GB was created in 2018.

Now, more than 20 villages make them every winter, and “more than 16,000 residents have access to water without water reservoirs or tanks,” said Rashiduddin, a non -Pakistan project, a non -Pakistan project, to adopt the effects of climate change.

Farmers Mohammad Raza told AFP that eight stups were constructed in his village Husseinabad this winter, and about 20 million liters of water were trapped in the snow.

“We no longer have water shortages while planting,” he said.

Ali Kazim, a farmer in the valley, also said, “Before that, we had to wait for the glaciers to melt in June, but the stoons saved our fields.”

Harwest Season multiplying

Before Stopas, “we put our crops in May”, 26 -year -old Bashir Ahmed said that potatoes, wheat and wheat grow in a nearby village, which has also adopted this method.

And “we had only a growing weather, while now we can apply two or three times a year.”

Temperatures in Pakistan rose twice rapidly between 1981 and 2005, compared to the global average, which put the country on the first line of climate change effects, including water shortage.

The country’s 240 million residents live in an area that is 80 % barren or semi -barren, and depends on rivers and rivers in neighboring countries for more than three -quarters of its water.

Glaciers are melting rapidly in the country and all over the world, including some exceptions, including the Karakoram Mountain Range, which increases the risk of flooding and reduces the water supply in the long term.

“The climate is facing climate change, neither rich nor poor, nor urban nor rural,” said 24 -year -old Yasir Paravi.

“In our village, with ice stupas, we decided to take the opportunity.”