Abstract
Himalayan rivers like Ganges and Indus are the source of fresh water and livelihood for millions living in the mountains and the downstream regions. The Himalayan glaciers and snow together with the base flow from the high mountains contribute important components of flows rendering the rivers perennial in nature. As water resources are inextricably linked with climate and other anthropogenic changes, global change is quite likely to alter significantly the flow patterns of the Himalayan rivers with consequent impacts on the economy in terms of water availability, food security and hydropower generation. Investigations on global change impact assessment on Himalayan hydrology involves the evaluation of changes in the snow and glacier dynamics as well as runoff resulting from changes in climatic, hydrological and local anthropogenic parameters. Such an ongoing investigation carried out in a few selected watersheds in the Himalayan region under a regional collaborative effort is briefly described and some results thus obtained are also presented and discussed.
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Acknowledgment
The research presented here has been carried out as a part of the regional collaborative project funded by the Asia Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) with the support of the US National Science Foundation (US NSF) and the assistance of the Global Change SysTem for Analysis Research and Training (START). Their cooperation, support and assistance are gratefully acknowledged. Grateful thanks are also due to the Country-Coordinators and researchers from the collaborating partner institutions in this project namely the G B Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development (GBPIHED) from India, the Institute for Development and Innovation (IDI) from Nepal and Global Change Impact Studies Centre (GCISC) from Pakistan. Special thanks are due to Dr. Lok Man S. Palni, and Dr. Rajesh Joshi from GBPIHED, India; Dr. Madan Lal Shrestha, Prof. Dr. Narendra Shakya and Mr. Jagadish Karmacharya from Nepal; and Mr. Ghazanfar Ali and Mr. Shabeh ul Hasson from GCISC, Pakistan for their valuable cooperation and contributions.
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Shrestha, K.L. (2015). Investigating Impacts of Global Change on the Dynamics of Snow, Glaciers and Run-off over the Himalayan Mountains. In: Joshi, R., Kumar, K., Palni, L. (eds) Dynamics of Climate Change and Water Resources of Northwestern Himalaya. Society of Earth Scientists Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13743-8_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13743-8_3
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