Glacier collapse in Kyrgyzstan sends worrying signal to Central Asia
On July 8, a glacier in the mountains of the Issyk-Kul region of Kyrgyzstan collapsed, triggering an avalanche. Little was known about it these two days until it was made public by sighted foreign tourists. The events took place on the Dzhuku pass on the Terskey Ala-Too ridge on the Kumtor side of Central Asia’s largest gold mine.
British tourist Harry Shimmin explained to the local news outlet that the ice melted as a group of tourists crossed the Juku Pass. Luckily, the tourists hadn’t gone straight through the section of the road and were covered in ice a few minutes later. “If we walk another 5 minutes on a hike, we’ll all die,” Shimmin wrote on Instagram.He continued: “We cross [the section] Afterwards, walking between huge boulders and rocks that were thrown farther than we ran, even though we acted immediately. “If they hadn’t been in the area at this time, there would be no visual witness to the catastrophe.
The disappearance of the glaciers is the main reason for the disappearance of glaciers, said Kerat Mordoshev, a professor at the Department of Ecology and Tourism at Kyrgyz Normal University in the capital, Bishkek. consequences of climate change. Due to the high temperatures and heatwaves that hit Central Asia last year, most of the glaciers have melted and some have collapsed into the valleys.
Now, as Moldoshev suggested, it is necessary to start systematically observing the passage of the glacier’s descent, as material reaching lower elevations melts and can trigger mudflows.
Like other regions, glaciers in Central Asia are melting. Partial destruction of glacial ice is common in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan. However, collapses of this magnitude are rare. Even more unusual, such an event would be filmed on video.
In June, the Kyrgyz government presented to parliament It offers international investors the opportunity to tap all metals and gold mines to provide additional income for the country’s sluggish economy. It was announced that large investors would be invited to participate in the development of the Jetim-Too iron ore mine in Naryn, the Sandyk aluminium mine in Jumgal, the Bala-Chychkan copper-gold mine in Talas and the Sai-II rare metal mine in Kuttuu-Jianmin. But scientists at the National Geological and Environmental Administration’s security department have warned that mining operations will have negative consequences if steps are not taken to protect glaciers, fragile slopes and ecosystems.
Under the former government authorities, initiatives to open and develop the Jetym-Too and Sandyk mines were opposed by the local population and sparked mass protests. Local residents have long feared that mining operations would damage pastures and soil.
Isaak Tolgoyev, director of the Laboratory of the Geological Ecological Monitoring Center of the National Academy of Sciences of Kyrgyzstan, told Azatic Media Without providing environmental safety measures, the open-pit mining of these deposits poses a threat to the ecosystems of the mountains:
“I am very against open-pit mining of the Jetym-Too iron ore. If we dig and work in an open way, there will be a lot of damage to the environment. This is because in the Jetym-Too ridge, as in Kumtor, there is a The water source of the Rhon River. If we start digging a mine, very large quarries will be built to extract iron concentrates, and millions of tons of rock will be mined. The crust of the mountains will be destroyed, and the permanent ice and glacial system will be collapse.”
Tien Shan in Kyrgyzstan. photo: caravanserai/flick
The Djuku Gorge, where the disaster occurred, is one of the most beautiful places on Lake Issyk-Kul; several tourist routes pass through the gorge. It is also close to the gold mine Kumtor. Two large glaciers in the Kumtor mine are under serious threat, according to environmental activists and researchers. Mining operations help them shrink, either by removing ice directly or by depositing waste and other dark-colored materials on their surfaces. The accelerated retreat of glaciers, a key factor in providing water, could pose serious environmental problems not only for Kyrgyzstan, but for the entire Central Asia region.
Glaciers in the Kyrgyz mountains are not only an integral part of the landscape, but also important water reservoirs. During the warmer times of the year, the snow and ice concentrated in it are released in the form of meltwater. This role of glaciers is now increasingly important due to drought and water scarcity in the region, although the accelerated disappearance of glaciers — a sign of the disaster — calls it into question.
For major rivers in Central Asia, such as the Syr Darya, glaciers in Kyrgyzstan have become an important source of water during the warmer months. In Kyrgyzstan, there are more than 8,000 glaciers and permanent snow that stretches over 8,100 square kilometers, accounting for about 4% of the country’s territory. The fate of the glacier is a pressing issue for Kyrgyzstan.
Kyrgyzstan was one of 195 countries that ratified the Paris Agreement in 2015. All ratifying countries are obliged to take appropriate measures to prevent the earth’s temperature from rising by more than 2 degrees Celsius.President of Kyrgyzstan Sadil Japarov speech The importance of this issue was underscored at COP 26, the main global climate summit last November. He was the only leader from Central Asia to attend the event and issued a statement on melting glaciers, urging world leaders to take action and commit to saving Central Asia’s glaciers. The region’s glaciers — and the people and ecosystems that depend on them — are under increasing threat, as recent disasters have forcefully demonstrated. Now is the time for concerted action in the region and beyond.
Baktygul Chynybaeva is a climate change reporter based in Kyrgyzstan, an alumnus of the Earth News Network Fellowship, and a member of the Oxford Climate News Network.
