Nepal will launch a large-scale program this fiscal year to drain four glacial lakes located high in the mountains, in an effort to reduce flood risks. Officials made the announcement after a recent disaster that killed more than 1,400 people, UNN reports, citing Reuters.
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Rescuers are still searching for more than 5,000 people who went missing in the border region with China after a glacier collapse in August triggered landslides and a sudden flood that tore through the valley.
"Our goal is to reduce the risk of the lakes breaching natural dams and to lower the risk of flooding downstream," said Subash Tuladhar, an expert at the government research center tasked with overseeing the new project.
He said channels would divert water into nearby rivers in a controlled manner, adding that workers face health risks from prolonged periods of work at high altitude, as well as the danger of sudden floods.
Design work and detailed studies targeting the central and eastern lakes of Tula Gi, Lower Barun, Lumding Tsho and Hongu II will begin in the fiscal year that runs until mid-July 2027, authorities said.
The United Nations Development Programme and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) said in a 2020 report that the lakes, located at elevations ranging from 4,050 to 5,483 meters, are among the most potentially dangerous in Nepal.
Nepal had the skills and experience needed for the $50 million project, which will be financed by the Green Climate Fund, UNDP and the government, added Tuladhar of the Nepal Center for Hydrology and Water Resources Research.
Work to divert water "through sluice structures" will begin after a detailed study and could take up to six years, said the Center's Executive Director Sanjib Baral.
They will include installing sensors, flood forecasting and warning systems, as well as efforts to improve resilience downstream and prepare communities for the risks.
In similar earlier efforts, Nepal lowered the level of the central Himalayan glacial lake Tsho Rolpa by 3 meters in 2000 and that of Imja Lake near Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, 10 years ago.
The disaster in Nepal served as a warning to the world, Prime Minister Balendra Shah said last month in a passionate speech before the United Nations, in which he blamed climate change against the backdrop of his country's negligible emissions.
The retreat of glaciers, unstable mountain slopes and increasingly unpredictable rivers showed that Nepal is paying a high price, he added.
In Nepal, where about 26 glacial lake outburst floods have been recorded over the past four decades, more than 300 people die on average each year from extreme weather events, while property damage runs into millions of dollars.
The latest floods destroyed a dozen hydropower plants, roads, bridges, farms and settlements. Officials said Nepal, which is in a difficult situation, will need nearly $5 billion for rapid recovery.
Climatologists say that as temperatures rise, glaciers in the Himalayas are retreating, leaving behind unstable glacial lakes held back by little more than rock and ice above valleys where millions of people live.
Lowering lake levels by 3 meters would significantly reduce the threat, said Samjwal Ratna Bajracharya, a retired ICIMOD expert on glaciers, glacial lakes and glacial lake outburst floods.