Failure to share scientific data is undermining efforts to protect major Asian rivers, reports find

Asian nations need to expand scientific collaborations and data sharing if they are to address the “enormous and growing” risks that climate change poses to three major rivers that support key ecosystems and nearly 1 billion people, a series of new reports from a regional research organization say. All three rivers—the Indus, the Ganges, and the Brahmaputra—originate in the rugged, icy mountain ranges of the Hindu Kush Himalaya region , where rapid warming is accelerating the melting of some glaciers and altering precipitation patterns. Those changes, together with growing populations and increased demand for water, have sobering implications for the seven nations along the rivers—Afghanistan, Nepal, Pakistan, China, India, Bangladesh, and Bhutan—say the authors of the reports, released on 20 March by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development and the Australian Water Partnership. Farmers could face lengthy water shortages, for example, whereas some communities could face new threats from flooding. Although the seven nations have an array of agreements aimed at collaboratively managing the rivers, a failure to share hydrological, environmental, and socioeconomic data remains a problem in all three basins, the authors say. The report on the Brahmaputra , for example, notes that “climate monitoring in the region is inadequate” and that “in general, secrecy...
Source: ScienceNOW - Category: Science Source Type: news