Climate change poses a serious threat to global water resources, and according to researchers, the Tibetan Plains suffer from such extreme water inequality that it could lead to increasing international conflicts. Named the “Third Pole,” the Tibetan Plateau and the neighboring Himalayas are home to the world’s largest ice-cold store outside the northern and southern regions. The region, also known as the Asian Water Tower (AWT), operates as a complex water distribution system that brings life-giving fluids to many countries, including parts of China, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
However, due to the rapid melting of glaciers and glaciers, this area cannot support the continued growth of developing countries on which they depend. “Population is growing rapidly, as is the need for water,” said Lonnie Thompson. an associate professor of international science at Ohio State University and a senior research scientist at the Byrd Polar Research Center. “These problems can lead to increasing risks of international and even international conflicts, and in the past, they exist.”
Thompson, who has studied climate change for nearly 50 years, is well acquainted with the critical state of hydrological conditions in the region. In 1984, Thompson became a member of the first Western group to be sent to investigate icebergs in China and Tibet. Since then, he and a team of international partners have spent years investigating records of snow-capped and rapidly declining weather and the impact it has had on AWT-based habitats for their clean water needs.
The group’s latest paper, Thompson, one of its authors, was published in the journal Nature Reviews Earth and Environment. Using temperature-sensitive data from 1980 to 2018 to track global warming, their findings revealed that AWT’s overall temperature increased by about 0.42 degrees Celsius over a decade, almost double the global average.
“This has a profound effect on snow, especially in the Himalayas,” Thompson said. “In total, we are losing water on the plains, about 50% more water than we are getting.” These shortages cause alarming water inequality: The northern parts of Tibet tend to be overflowing with water sources as much of the rainfall is due to the intensity of the western hemisphere, while southern rivers and water resources are reduced as drought and rising temperatures contribute to downstream water losses.
According to research, because many endangered communities are at the border of these valleys below the river, these growing differences could escalate conflicts or exacerbate tensions between participating countries, such as long-term irrigation and water struggles between India and Pakistan.
“As the region’s climate varies, there are winners and losers,” said Thompson. “But we must learn to work together to ensure adequate and equitable access to water throughout the region.” As local temperatures continue to rise and water resources dwindle, more and more people will end up experiencing constant water shortages, he said.
However, a full increase in rainfall alone will not meet the growing demand for water in the lower reaches of the river.
To combat this, the study recommends using more comprehensive water monitoring systems in areas with limited data, noting that better spatial and hydrologic models are needed to help predict what is happening to water supply in the region. Legislators should use the visions to help develop effective policies for sustainable water management, Thompson said. If policymakers decide to heed the advice of scientists, these new policies can be used to improve AWT practice in cooperation between countries north of the river.
After all, when things go wrong in one part of the world, such as the effects of butterflies, they often have long-term consequences throughout the world. “Climate change is a global phenomenon,” said Thompson. “It doesn’t matter what country you are in or what part of the world you are in. Soon, you will have the same problem.”
Source Journal Reference: Tandong Yao, Tobias Bolch, Deliang Chen, Jing Gao, Walter Immerzeel, Shilong Piao, Fengge Su, Lonnie Thompson, Yoshihide Wada, Lei Wang, Tao Wang, Guangjian Wu, Baiqing Xu, Wei Yang, Guoqing Zhang, Ping Zhao. The imbalance of the Asian water tower. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 2022; DOI: 10.1038/s43017-022-00299-4
