GENEVA, SWITZERLAND, April 16, 2002: Lakes in the Himalayas are filling so rapidly because of rising temperatures melting more snow that they could burst their banks within a decade, sending walls of water crashing down into valleys, the United Nations warned on Tuesday. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said a scientific study in Bhutan and Nepal had revealed that at least 44 glacial lakes were filling swiftly with water as rising temperatures accelerated the melting of glaciers and surrounding snowfields. It said data in Nepal showed that high altitude lakes could suddenly burst banks formed by mud and debris once they reached peak levels, unless preventive action was taken. The quantities of water involved were such that they would spread for hundreds of kilometers along the valleys, according to UNEP. “We are giving early warning,” director-general Klaus Toepfer told a news conference. Average temperatures in Nepal have risen by about one degree centigrade at high altitudes since the mid 1970s, UNEP noted.
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