#2. HIMALAYAS - The Beauty and Majesty: Facts

1.  In Sanskrit HIMA = Snow and ALAYA= Abode; hence HIMALAYA = ‘the abode of snow’.
2.  Though it is unusual to have such an amount of snow/ice accumulation in low latitude, the mountain are so high that the cold and rarefied air always adores their peaks so that the snow/ice respects and keeps on covering constantly.
3.  Himalayas – the world’s tallest mountains – are the mountains in between Indus River on the west to the Barhmaputra River on the east, measuring approximately 2400 kilometers, with width variation from 160 – 240 kilometers.
4. Himalayas cover about 0.4% of the Earth’s Space i.e. an area of 612021 square KM.
5.  Himalayas, also called “the water towers”, are the origin of some major river systems like the Indus, the Sutlej, the Ganges, the Mahakali, the Karnali, the Gandaki, the Sapta Koshi, and the Burhmaputra – the source of fresh water for about 1/3^rd of the world populations.
6. Erosion is crucial in case of the Himalayas, not only in creation of antecedent rivers, but in the general formation of Himalayas.
7. According to Bob Stoddard, if there wouldn’t be the wearing down of this gigantic earth wrinkle, the Himalayas would be much higher and growing at the rate of 8 – 10 centimeters annually.
8.  He furthers argues that, the present rate of erosion is such that it takes a century for the mountains to increase in height even a few centimeters.
9.  Erosion affects not only the height but also carves into steep peaks, narrow gorges, and the generally rugged topography that characterizes these young mountains.
10. Himalayas are one of the most vulnerable areas of world due to climate change. Various studies suggest that warming in the Himalayas has been much greater than the global average of 0.74°C over the last 100 years.
11. The Himalayas are characterized by high altitude, rich biodiversity and high endemism despite being environmentally severe.
12. It is accepted that abiotic stresses increase with increased altitude in the Himalayas.
13.  Many of the World's most sensitive ecosystems are in Mountain regions.
14. Mountain ecosystems support 1/2 of the world's biological diversity and nearly half of the world's biodiversity Hotspots (Hassan et.al. 2005).
15. Globalization, economic policies, increasing pressure on land and resources due to economic growth, land-use change, and change in population structure and lifestyle are some of the drivers of change that impact the mountain ecosystem and people.
16. Global climate change acts an additional stressor to exacerbate the impact of other drivers of change (ICIMOD 2010).
17. There are about 204 critical glacial lakes in Hindu-Kush Himalayan region that have a potential for bursting.