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Science/Tech See other Science/Tech Articles Title: Himalayan Glacier Melting Will Lead to Water Shortage, WWF Says March 14 (Bloomberg) -- Himalayan glaciers are melting rapidly as a result of global warming, a phenomenon that will lead to flooding and later to a shortage of water in the Indian subcontinent and China, the WWF environmental organization said. Glaciers in the region are receding 10 to 15 meters (33 to 49 feet) a year, a rate that is increasing as global warming rises, the WWF, formerly known as the World Wildlife Fund, said in a report on the region. ``The rapid melting of Himalayan glaciers will first increase the volume of water in rivers causing widespread flooding,'' Jennifer Morgan, director of WWF's Global Climate Change Program, said on the group's Web site. ``In a few decades, this situation will change and the water level in rivers will decline, meaning massive economic and environmental problems for people in Western China, Nepal and northern India.'' Himalayan glaciers supply rivers such as the Ganges that flows into India, the Indus in Pakistan, the Yangzte in China and the Mekong that travels through Cambodia and Vietnam to the South China Sea. A decrease in the flow of water from the glaciers will cut the potential of hydroelectric power and will reduce irrigation leading to lower crop production, the WWF said. Power producers are unable to meet demand for electricity in China where blackouts affected 24 of the country's 27 provinces and its biggest cities in 2004. India's government is planning to boost generating capacity by 35 percent in two years to try to end blackouts by 2012. The number of days lost to blackouts in India on average each year totals about three months. Three of Nepal's snow-fed rivers are losing volume and China's Qinhai Plateau wetlands are declining, according to the report. India's Gangotri glacier that supports one of India's largest river basins, is receding at an average rate of 23 meters a year, the WWF said. ``Himalayan glaciers feed into seven of Asia's greatest rivers, ensuring a year-round water supply to hundreds of millions of people in the Indian subcontinent and China,'' the WWF said in its report.
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