“Kolahoi is our everything. Without her, we are lost”

Meet the Kolahio glacier in the Western Himalaya. Millions of Indians and Pakistanis depend on the Kolahio glacier’s yearly run-off; they call her Gwash Brani – “goddess of light”. “Kolahoi is our everything. Without her, we are lost” says Ashraf Mohammad Ganai.

Climate change is threatening Gwash Brani; in the past four decades she has lost between 15 to 18 percent of her total volume and is retreating by almost 3 metres a year. Therefore climate change is threatening the people who depend on the goddess of light.

The retreating glaciers in the Himalayans are already affecting the people downstream. The water level is unpredictable –they used to know when it would be high and when it would be low, but now the normadic herders can’t predict the water level, affecting the sheep they bring to graze near the water.

25th March 2010

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