In the coming years, the world is likely to witness more floods, rock falls, avalanches and landslides with the glaciers, ice, permafrost and snow declining, according to the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
With green house emission continuing in this pace, the report titled ‘The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate’ emphasis that the decline of glaciers, ice, snow and permafrost would only continue, affecting the people in the hilly tracts as well as the plains.
In the report, it has been said that snow cover has declined in almost all regions, notably in lower elevations. It has been projected that 80 per cent of the mass of small glaciers in Europe, tropical Andes, Indonesia and eastern Africa will be lost by 2100 if this scenario continued.
Permafrost thaw and Glacier retreat is said to have adversely impacted the stability of mountain slopes. As such snow avalanches combined with wet snow have increased. The report maintains that the decline of mountain cryosphere would affect tourism and recreational activities. Another impact of the changes in the mountain snow and glaciers is that it would alter the availability of water downstream, which could have impact on agriculture and affect people’s life.
Another finding in the report is that once the snow coat is reduced, it could have adverse effect on the reproductive quality of certain some snow dependent animals and plants.
