OneWorld.net (U.S.)

The ‘roof of the world’, as well as other mountains in Asia, are being slowly degraded by unchecked human activity that will affect the water supply of millions of people and the region’s rich biodiversity, warns a new report by the World Conservation Union and the United Nations Environment Programme. The mountains of Asia, including the Himalayas, are facing accelerating threats from a rapid increase in the number of roads, settlements, overgrazing and deforestation, warn experts in a new report. The report voices concern that the region’s water supply, fed by glaciers and the monsoons and vital for around half the world’s population, may be harmed alongside the area’s abundant and rich wildlife.

‘The Fall of Water’, a joint report by the IUCN (the World Conservation Union) and the United Nations Environment Programme points to a critical gap in water supplies to billions of people in Asia and the crucial role of sound environmental management for sustainable development.

According to the report, satellite images reveal that deforestation and unsustainable land use could explain why the region’s rivers now have the largest sediment loads in the world and why dissolved nutrients in the water are increasing more than in any other region. This is one of the primary reasons for increasing human drought and flood-related disasters in the region, including the latest floods in China and India.

By combining a range of local studies with satellite images from 1960 up to today, scientists have been able to reveal for the first time the scale of land-use changes in the region. Surendra Shrestha, director of the UNEP’s regional office for Asia and the Pacific, said: “Most serious is the situation in parts of Pakistan, northern India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and South-East Asia.” Here, human population pressures and piecemeal development for logging and other purposes can have a great impact on biodiversity and watersheds, he added.

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