Your article (Meltdown, Nepali Times, #100) indicates that if the rich countries were to reduce CO2 emissions (to the level of Kyoto Protocol?) there will be no global warming and hence, there will be no danger to the glacial lakes of Nepal. This is not true. Global warming is going to happen, that is, even when the US and other rich countries reduce their CO2 emissions to the Kyoto protocol level. The whole objective of climate change drive is not to stop the warming of the globe, but to slow down the process, which is happening too fast. Billions of tons of CO2 are added to the atmosphere every year and the gas accumulate there. Reducing emissions from the rich countries by few percentages can only slow down this accumulation rate. The total amount of greenhouse gases, however, will continue to rise. Hence, global warming is going to happen, no matter what. This means the glacial lakes of Nepal are going to burst some day in future. The only question would be how soon? Can we slow the process? Hence, the strategy for Nepal should be the strategy of adaptatio. The country needs to prepare itself to deal with the situation when it occurs. It cannot be avoided.

Sameer Shrestha,
by email