‘Peace mountain’ can be science lab

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement that he wants Siachen to be declared a ‘‘peace mountain’’ has found an ec...

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement that he wants Siachen to be declared a ‘‘peace mountain’’ has found an echo in a group of international scientists.

These scientists — from India, Pakistan, China, USA and Canada — have for long been demanding that the region be declared a ‘‘science peace park’’. They point out that the glacier offers a unique environment to study many aspects of earth sciences.

The interest of the scientific community in the inhospitable Siachen region can be guaged from the fact that at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) held earlier this year in Washington DC, there was a special symposium titled ‘Himalayan High Ice: Climate, Water, Hazard, War and Peace’. It had endorsed the creation of a ‘‘Siachen peace park’’ where ‘‘comprehensive, cross-border science’’ could be carried out.

Jeff Kargel of the United States Geological Survey, an expert on the Karakoram range, calls the initiative ‘‘a science for peace programme for the high Asian region where today chaos prevails’’.

Syed Iqbal Hasnain, Vice-Chancellor of Calicut University, who is a world acclaimed glaciologist and a consultant to the UN Environment Programme, describes the PM’s move as a historic gesture for preservation of the Himalayas.

Hasnain said that without compromising the current geographical positions that the warring armies hold, two separate high-altitude research stations could be created — one on the Pakistani side and the other on the Indian side. This, according to Hasnain, could offer an ‘‘honourable exit’’ to both armies which have been fighting a futile war.

Dr Saleem Ali, a Pakistan-born scientist at the University of Vermont, Canada, says ‘‘the Karakoram range includes fragile ecosystems that have been impacted by military presence and the lack of proper conservation management regimes.’’

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Scientists say the huge amount of fresh water stored in the glaciers constitutes an important feature of the hydrological balance for much of South Asia. Melting of the glaciers due to activities in their immediate vicinity or as a result of climate change deserves careful monitoring. They say the Siachen glacier is receding fast under the onslaught of human activity.

Hasnain feels Pakistan must seize this opportunity to protect the glacier since it stands to gain the most. The water from the glacier drains into the Indus, he says, which is the lifeline of that country.

To lobby for a ‘Siachen Peace Park’, the National Science Foundation of the US has, according to Hasnain, provided over $150,000 of seed funding for workshops in India and Pakistan. The first meeting is likely to be held here in October followed by another meeting in Islamabad.