‘Melting Himalayan glaciers can threaten animals, humans’

The melting down of the Himalayan glaciers due to climate change may be solving the current water crisis, but can also have a devastating effect on animal and human lives in the long run, environmentalist and polar explorer Robert Swan has said.

“What scares me is that people think that it is fine for the glaciers to melt. What they need to realise is that getting so much of water through melting glaciers can have hazardous effects in the future,” Swan said. He was speaking at the Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies (SIMS) on Monday.

Swan emphasised that India has to play an active role in solving water crisis by means of rainwater harvesting and other methods of water conservation rather than relying on the melting
glaciers.

On the issue of global warming, he said, “People mistake climate change to be global warming. Due to various reasons, the earth is going through a climate change and getting warmer. This is called global warming.”

Maintaining that rising population can critically harm the environment in the future, Swan said, “There’s a threat that the natural resources will be over-consumed. Educating people about it and finding technologically sound ways to conserve the environment can solve the hazardous effects of growing population on the natural resources.”

He also stressed on the role of technology to preserve environment. “Technology is extremely essential for the conservation of environment. The United States, China, Europe and India need to work in collaboration and find ways to explore various prospects of technological growth in the preservation of climate and environment,”
he said.

Swan is currently an advocate for the protection of Antarctica and renewable energy. He is also the president of 2041, a company which is dedicated to preserve Antarctica. Swan is also the co-author of the book Antarctica 2041: My Quest to Save the Earth’s Last Wilderness. He is the first person to walk at the North and South poles unsupported.