ALTON BYERS

KUNDA DIXIT

Kathmandu sees a slew of international meetings on climate change this week as scientists confirm that the effects of global warming on the Himalaya is actually much more serious than previously thought. The melting of the polar ice cap and permafrost in the Himalaya (Mt Taboche in the Khumbu with a glacial lake at its base, top) are already affecting water availability and sea level rise is threatening to drown Male (below), the capital of the Maldives.

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