by Floro Mercene
A region to the south of China and the north of India is known as the “Third Pole”. The region stores more snow and ice than anywhere else in the world outside the North and South Poles, thus giving its name.
It is the third largest area of frozen water on the planet covering 100,000 square kilometers with some 46,000 glaciers. The region encompasses the world’s highest mountains, including all 14 peaks above 8,000 meters. 10 of Asia’s largest rivers begin here, including the Yellow River and Yangtze River in China, the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar, the Ganges, which flows through India and Bangladesh, and the trans-boundary Mekong River.
The Third Pole, because it is high above sea level, is sensitive to changes in temperature. It is estimated that the water that flows from the Third Pole supports 120 million people directly through irrigation systems, and a total of 1.3 billion indirectly through river basins in China, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. That’s nearly one fifth of the world’s population.
Climate change has become a major concern in the Third Pole. The rate of warming in the Third Pole region is significantly higher than the global average, and the rate is higher at higher altitudes. Since 2005, the rate at which the Third Pole’s glaciers are melting has almost doubled. Research has also found that more than 500 small glaciers have disappeared altogether and the biggest ones are shrinking, causing seasonal snow to melt rapidly, and thawing Tibet’s vast stores of permafrost. A research team found that the melting ice is caused not only by global warming but also by deadly urban air pollution, caused mostly by burning coal. The continuous glacier melting will increase to more water into river basins, causing flooding, eventually that will dry up, resulting in drought and desertification.