ISLAMABAD: The second phase of Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF-II) project will focus on ensuring flood risk reduction activities in 24 valleys of northern areas particularly Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan.
The rising temperatures all over the world has casted serious impacts on Pakistan and South Asia region which has increased the risk of GLOF events in the country, an official of Climate Change Ministry told APP while elaborating details of the important GLOF-II project.
He said the areas targeted for the project included eight valleys of Khyber Pakhtukhwa (KP) and 16 valleys of Gilgit Baltistan (GB).
The GLOF-II project activities included establishment of Early Warning System, installation of 51 Automatic Weather Stations, 153 Rain Gauges (tipping bucket), 63 Water Discharge Gauges, 77 River Water Level Gauges, 63 Lake Water Level Gauges and 48 Warning Posts.
He informed that the Ministry of Climate Change was implementing GLOF related Projects (GLOF-I & II) where the GLOF-I was related to reduction on the risks of Glacial Lake Outburst Flood in Northern Areas of Pakistan.
“In this context vulnerability risk assessment with respect to communities in one district each in GB and KP had been done”, he mentioned while claiming the first phase of the project being executed .
The official mentioned that to understand the dynamics of glaciers, WAPDA had established Glacier Monitoring Research Centre (GMRC) in 2012 by upgrading the already existing Pakistan Snow and Ice Hydrology Project (PSIHP) in the wake of Climate Change and its impacts on the country’s Glaciers in Upper Indus Basin (UIB).
The GMRC purpose is to conduct monitoring activities through available resources in the field of climate change and global warming for informed decisions to develop water resources.
The Centre was collecting data from 11 Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) Network in UIB. “As per GMRC’s preliminary observations, the glaciers in Pakistan’s northern mountain ranges show tendency of rapid melting due to rising temperature. However, detailed studies are needed to know the actual health of glaciers”, the official said.
He added that apart from that a joint study conducted by Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) and Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) in 2015 that revealed a total of 3,044 glacial lakes out of which 13 exist in the GB and KP and 33 of these lakes were identified to be prone to GLOF.
“It is further highlighted that rise in temperatures in coming years may cause the development of new glacial lakes and expansion of existing lakes in the glaciated area of UIB, which may enhance the frequency and severity of GLOF event”, he added.
