Himalayas facing 'climate change
crisis', at greater risk of catastrophes A 2013 study in Himachal Pradesh found that most apple farmers reported a decline in production and delayed harvest
Prithvi garam ho rahi hai [the earth is warming],” said trek guide Karan Sharma, pointing at the 20,000-foot Indrasan peak in Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh. Grimy rocks and boulders jutted out where in previous years a snow-capped peak used to be. “Ab mangal ka hi sahara hai,” he laughed sarcastically. “Now we must go to Mars.” The 23-year-old hails from a village called Banara, perched 4,000 feet above sea level at a two-hour driving distance from Manali, the famous mountain city in Himachal Pradesh.
As tourists throng to the region’s cooler climes and picturesque scenery, most of Sharma’s family and fellow villagers work as cooks, drivers or trek guides, their livelihoods supplemented by the region’s bountiful apple orchards. Warming climes threaten both the apple and tourism industries. “Last year we produced close to 150 boxes of apples. This year we produced only 50,” Sharma told IndiaSpend. In 2018, the region saw early and heavy snowfall in the first week of October, freezing rivers and stranding hundreds of people, posing a danger for the tourism and trekking industry.Sharma and his fellow villagers are among the 600 million Indians at risk from the fallout of a rise in global mean temperature. The earth’s temperature is rising by 0.2 degree Celsius every decade, according to the October 6, 2018, report of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). By 2030 and no later than mid-century, the warming will
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