Ganges at risk of drying up: Report

The River Ganges is among the top ten rivers in the world that face the possibility of drying up due to human exploitation of the natural environment. According to the environment group WWF(World Wildlife Fund), five of the world’s "top 10" rivers, which are in danger of drying up, are in Asia. According to its report titled `World's Top 10 Rivers at Risk’, apart from the Ganges, there is the Yangtse, the Mekong, Europe's Danube and North America's Rio Grande, which face a fresh water crisis point because of humans are using them to build dams, for shipping, spreading pollutants and last, but not least, climate change. Report directly indicated towards ‘over-extraction’ of the holly Ganges for its present and future state.

WWF sources have been quoted by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) as saying that governments should see water as an issue of national security. With World Water Day (March 22) round the corner, the report, Dr David Tickner, the head of the freshwater programme at WWF-UK, says the impending fresh water crisis will and can have a devastating impact on the future of mankind. "We need business leaders and governments to recognise that climate change is not the only urgent environmental issue that needs to be dealt with, and that they need to take notice of this freshwater emergency and act now, not later," he added. The WWF has been able to quantify the threat to major rivers by collating information from a number of major reports, such as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.

Dam building, over-extraction for drinking, industry and agriculture, invasive species, climate change, pollution and shipping were among the various activities whose impact the group assessed. The main threat to the Indus is straightforward and linked to climate change. Most of its water comes from Himalayan glaciers; if the glaciers disappear, so will the river, warns the WWF. Other sections of scientists have time and again reiterated the alarming increase in the rate of global temperature, thus making glaciers vulnerable.

Source:www.headlinesindia.com
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