An urgent call to protect the world's "Third Pole" | Tshering Tobgay

Summary

The speaker reflects on political stunts involving climate change awareness, such as underwater and high-altitude cabinet meetings, and how they initially failed to resonate. However, a report on the rapid melting of glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayas deeply alarmed him, revealing the urgent threat posed by climate change to millions of people in the region. He proposes the formation of a 'Third Pole Council,' an intergovernmental body tasked with protecting the glaciers, emphasizing the need for regional cooperation to combat global warming and prevent disastrous consequences for humanity.

Takeaways

• 🌊 In 2009, Maldives' President Nasheed held an underwater cabinet meeting to highlight the threat of climate change and rising sea levels.
• 🏔️ Nepal's Prime Minister held a cabinet meeting at Mount Everest's base camp to draw attention to melting Himalayan glaciers.
• 📊 A report by ICIMOD warned that one-third of the Hindu Kush Himalaya's ice could melt by the end of the century if global warming is limited to 1.5°C.
• ❄️ The Hindu Kush Himalaya is the world's third-largest ice repository, crucial for maintaining regional water supplies.
• 🔥 Global warming is causing glaciers to melt faster, leading to increased rain and less snow, which is detrimental to glacier health.
• 🌧️ Increased rain and melting glaciers will lead to more intense rain, flash floods, landslides, and glacial lake outburst floods.
• 💧 The melting glaciers threaten the water supply for 1.6 billion people downstream, including major rivers originating from the Hindu Kush Himalaya.
• 🌍 The situation in the Hindu Kush Himalaya affects not just the region but has global implications, including potential climate refugees and conflicts over water.
• 🌿 The speaker proposes the establishment of the Third Pole Council, an intergovernmental agency to protect the world's third-largest ice repository.
• 🌿 The Third Pole Council would involve regional countries and stakeholders to monitor glacier health and implement policies to protect them.
• ⏰ There is an urgent need for global action to reduce greenhouse gases and pollution to prevent major catastrophes caused by climate change.

Q & A

What was the purpose of President Mohamed Nasheed's underwater cabinet meeting in 2009?

President Mohamed Nasheed held the underwater cabinet meeting to draw global attention to the threat of rising sea levels due to climate change, which could drown the Maldives.

How did the speaker initially react to the Maldives and Nepal's political stunts related to climate change?

The speaker viewed both events as political stunts and did not lose sleep over them. While the Maldives' situation felt distant, the Nepal event concerned him, but he still did not let it affect him deeply.

What alarming information did the speaker come across in the report published in 2019?

The report warned that one-third of the ice in the Hindu Kush Himalayas could melt by the end of the century if global warming was limited to 1.5°C, and much more ice could disappear if warming exceeded that level.

Why are the Hindu Kush Himalayas referred to as the 'Third Pole'?

The Hindu Kush Himalayas are called the 'Third Pole' because they are the world's third-largest repository of ice, after the North and South Poles.

What are the key factors accelerating the melting of glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayas?

The key factors include global warming, which causes more rain and less snow, and pollution, particularly black carbon, which absorbs heat and speeds up glacial melting.

How would the melting of the Hindu Kush Himalayan glaciers affect the local population?

The melting glaciers would lead to more flash floods, landslides, and glacial lake outbursts, causing destruction in a region already home to some of the poorest people on Earth.

How does the speaker emphasize the broader global impact of melting glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayas?

The speaker highlights that the rivers originating from these glaciers provide critical water for 1.6 billion people, and disruptions to this water supply could lead to floods, droughts, and potentially destabilize the region, affecting the entire planet.

What solution does the speaker propose to address the challenges posed by melting glaciers?

The speaker proposes the establishment of the 'Third Pole Council,' an intergovernmental organization to protect the glaciers and coordinate policies and actions among the eight countries in the region.

Why does the speaker believe individual local efforts are insufficient to combat climate change?

The speaker argues that localized efforts, while important, cannot stand up to the scale of global climate change. The region must come together and act collectively to have a meaningful impact.

What role do China and India play in addressing the climate crisis in the region, according to the speaker?

China and India, being the region's powerful giants and significant contributors to pollution, must take ownership in reducing their greenhouse gases, controlling pollution, and leading the global fight against climate change.

Outlines

00:00

🤿 Underwater Cabinet Meeting to Highlight Climate Change

In 2009, Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed held an underwater cabinet meeting to draw attention to the dangers of climate change and the threat of rising sea levels. Although it was perceived by the speaker as a political stunt, it introduced the idea that small, vulnerable nations could face catastrophic consequences. Initially, the speaker from Bhutan didn't feel personally affected, dismissing it as irrelevant. However, when a similar political gesture was made by Nepal's prime minister on Mount Everest to highlight the melting of glaciers, the speaker, living in the Himalayas, began to take the issue more seriously.

05:02

🧊 The Urgency of Glacial Melting

A 2019 report revealed that one-third of the glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region could melt by the end of the century if global warming reaches 1.5 degrees Celsius. The speaker reflects on the grim possibility of accelerated glacier melting and its devastating impact on Bhutan. The risk of glacial lake outburst floods, caused by the overflow of melting water, could lead to destructive flash floods in the country. These concerns, backed by scientific data, triggered a deeper sense of alarm for the speaker.

10:03

🏔️ Mount Everest Glaciers: Alarming Data

The speaker visits the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Nepal and learns that glaciers on Mount Everest, like many others in the region, are losing ice at an alarming rate. Even a global temperature rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius could cause one-third of the glaciers to vanish. If warming reaches two degrees, half of the glaciers would disappear, and two-thirds could melt if current trends persist. The melting glaciers threaten not just local ecosystems but also communities across the region.

🌧️ Impact of Rain, Black Carbon, and Global Warming on Glaciers

The speaker learns four key points: (1) the glaciers in the region have been melting for years; (2) rapid warming means that even modest global temperature increases will accelerate this process; (3) more rain and less snow disrupt the glacier ecosystem, as rain speeds up melting; and (4) increased black carbon pollution, particularly from soot, absorbs heat and further accelerates the melting process. These factors collectively exacerbate the crisis in the Himalayas, threatening the region's water security.

💧 Regional Water Crisis and Global Impacts

The melting glaciers are a looming threat for 240 million people living in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region. This includes countries like Bhutan, Afghanistan, Nepal, and China. The changes in water patterns—such as increased rainfall and fewer snowfalls—are already leading to flash floods, landslides, and glacial lake outbursts, impacting millions. This melting also affects downstream countries that rely on the region's rivers, such as India and Bangladesh, leading to potential water shortages, agricultural crises, and disasters.

🚨 Global Consequences of Glacial Melting

Glacier melt will not only harm the immediate region but will also have cascading effects on the world. The 10 major rivers fed by these glaciers support 1.6 billion people across Asia. With rising floods and subsequent droughts, the 'water towers of Asia' will break down, leading to disasters that could affect one-fifth of humanity. The speaker urges everyone to care about this issue, stressing that the situation is critical for global climate stability and that these changes can impact all of humanity.

🌍 Collective Responsibility to Combat Climate Change

The speaker reflects on how people tend to dismiss climate change until it personally affects them, urging the world to care about the melting glaciers. The health of the Hindu Kush Himalayas, which he calls the 'pulse of the planet,' is crucial for global climate stability. If the region's glaciers continue to melt, the resulting climate refugees and potential conflicts over water could destabilize entire regions, including nuclear powers like China, India, and Pakistan. This looming threat calls for urgent global action.

🏛️ Proposal for the Third Pole Council

To address the dire situation, the speaker proposes the creation of the Third Pole Council, a new intergovernmental agency to protect the glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region. The Council would include the eight countries in the region, such as Bhutan, India, China, and Nepal, as well as other stakeholders, to monitor and protect the glaciers. The speaker emphasizes that localized efforts are insufficient to tackle climate change and calls for collaborative regional and global action.

⏳ Time to Act Together

The speaker stresses that the region, including India and China, must take ownership of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and pollution to protect the glaciers. He calls for urgent, unified action to combat climate change, emphasizing that regional collaboration is necessary for any chance of preventing catastrophes. Time is running out, and without immediate action, even symbolic gestures, like holding cabinet meetings on Mount Everest or underwater, may soon take place in drastically altered landscapes.

Keywords

💡Global Warming

Global warming refers to the long-term increase in Earth's average surface temperature due to human activities, primarily the emission of greenhouse gases. In the video, global warming is a central theme, with the speaker highlighting its impact on the melting of glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region. The urgency of addressing global warming is underscored by the potential catastrophic consequences for the region and the world.

💡Hindu Kush Himalaya

The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) is a mountain range in Asia, often referred to as the 'Third Pole' due to its vast ice reserves. The HKH is highlighted in the video as being at significant risk from climate change, with the potential for one-third of its ice to melt by the end of the century if global warming is limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

💡Glacial Lakes

Glacial lakes are bodies of water that form in depressions on or at the edge of a glacier. The video discusses the potential for these lakes to burst, causing flash floods and other disasters. This illustrates the interconnected nature of glacial systems and the broader environmental impacts of climate change.

💡Black Carbon

Black carbon, similar to soot, is a climate-warming particle that absorbs sunlight and contributes to the melting of glaciers. The video mentions that pollution has increased the amount of black carbon on glaciers, accelerating their melting and emphasizing the need for pollution control as part of climate change mitigation strategies.

💡Climate Refugees

Climate refugees are individuals displaced due to climate-related disasters or environmental changes. The video suggests that the melting of glaciers could lead to millions of climate refugees, illustrating the human cost of climate change and the potential for social and political destabilization.

💡Paris Agreement

The Paris Agreement is a global accord aimed at limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The video references the Paris Agreement to highlight the ambitious targets needed to mitigate the worst effects of climate change, particularly in vulnerable regions like the HKH.

💡Third Pole

The term 'Third Pole' is used in the video to describe the Hindu Kush Himalaya region due to its significant ice reserves, after the North and South Poles. This emphasizes the region's importance in the global climate system and the urgency of protecting its glaciers.

💡Glacial Melt

Glacial melt refers to the process of ice and snow turning into water, which can lead to rising sea levels and changes in water availability. In the video, the rapid melting of glaciers in the HKH is a central concern, with potential dire consequences for water security and the risk of floods and droughts.

💡Water Towers of Asia

The 'Water Towers of Asia' is a term used in the video to describe the HKH mountains, which are the source of major rivers that provide water for agriculture and drinking to over 1.6 billion people. This highlights the importance of the region's glaciers for water security in Asia.

💡Intergovernmental Agency

An intergovernmental agency is an organization formed by multiple governments to address issues that require international cooperation. The video proposes the creation of a 'Third Pole Council' as an intergovernmental agency to protect the HKH glaciers, emphasizing the need for coordinated global action on climate change.

💡Political Stunt

A political stunt is a tactic used by politicians to draw attention to a cause or issue. The video mentions underwater cabinet meetings and meetings on Mount Everest as examples of political stunts used to raise awareness about climate change. This term is used to contrast the speaker's initial skepticism with the gravity of the situation presented by scientific reports.

Highlights

President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives held an underwater cabinet meeting in 2009 to warn about the threat of global warming.

Two months later, the prime minister of Nepal held a cabinet meeting on Mount Everest to raise awareness about the melting glaciers in the Himalayas.

A 2019 report predicted that one-third of the ice in the Hindu Kush Himalaya mountains could melt by the end of the century, even if global warming is limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

At 1.5 degrees of warming, one-third of the glaciers in the region would melt; at 2 degrees, half would disappear.

The Hindu Kush Himalaya region is the world's third-largest ice repository, known as the 'Third Pole.'

More rain and less snow, along with increased pollution and black carbon, are accelerating the melting of glaciers.

The melting glaciers will directly impact 240 million people in the region, as well as 1.6 billion people downstream who depend on the rivers originating from these mountains.

The melting of glaciers will result in more flash floods, landslides, and glacial lake outburst floods, causing widespread destruction.

The Hindu Kush Himalaya region is critical, providing water for agriculture and drinking to one-fifth of humanity.

The global community needs to care about the situation, as destabilization in this region could result in mass climate migration and conflict over water resources.

The speaker proposes the creation of the 'Third Pole Council,' a high-level intergovernmental agency to protect the glaciers in the region.

Localized efforts, like those in Bhutan, are insufficient in combating climate change; regional cooperation is necessary.

India and China, as the region's powerful giants, must take the lead in reducing greenhouse gases and controlling pollution.

Without urgent action, the future of the glaciers and the people who depend on them is at great risk.

If glaciers continue to melt, sea-level rise could drown low-lying countries like the Maldives.

Transcripts

On the 17th of October, 2009,

President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives did something unusual.

He held his cabinet meeting underwater.

He literally took his ministers scuba diving, as it were,

to warn the world that his country could drown

unless we control global warming.

Now I don't know whether he got his message across to the world or not,

but he certainly caught mine.

I saw a political stunt.

You see, I'm a politician,

and I notice these things.

And let's be honest,

the Maldives are distant from where I come from --

my country is Bhutan --

so I didn't lose any sleep over their impending fate.

Barely two months later, I saw another political stunt.

This time, the prime minister of Nepal,

he held his cabinet meeting on Mount Everest.

He took all his ministers all the way up to the base camp of Everest

to warn the world

that the Himalayan glaciers were melting.

Now did that worry me?

You bet it did.

I live in the Himalayas.

But did I lose any sleep over his message?

No.

I wasn't ready to let a political stunt interfere with my beauty sleep.

(Laughter)

Now fast-forward 10 years.

In February this year,

I saw this report.

This here report basically concludes

that one-third of the ice on the Hindu Kush Himalaya mountains

could melt by the end of the century.

But that's only if,

if we are able to contain global warming

to 1.5 degrees centigrade over preindustrial levels.

Otherwise, if we can't,

the glaciers would melt much faster.

1.5 degrees Celsius. "No way," I thought.

Even the Paris Agreement's ambitious targets

aimed to limit global warming to two degrees centigrade.

1.5 degrees centigrade is what they call the best-case scenario.

"Now this can't be true," I thought.

The Hindu Kush Himalaya region

is the world's third-largest repository of ice,

after the North and South Poles.

That's why we are also called the "Third Pole."

There's a lot of ice in the region.

And yes, the glaciers, they are melting.

We know that.

I have been to those in my country.

I've seen them, and yes, they are melting.

They are vulnerable.

"But they can't be that vulnerable," I remember thinking.

But what if they are?

What if our glaciers melt much more quickly than I anticipate?

What if our glaciers are much more vulnerable than previously thought?

And what if, as a result, the glacial lakes --

now these are lakes that form when glaciers melt --

what if those lakes burst under the weight of additional water?

And what if those floods cascade into other glacial lakes,

creating even bigger outbursts?

That would create unprecedented flash floods in my country.

That would wreck my country.

That would wreak havoc in my country.

That would have the potential to literally destroy our land,

our livelihood, our way of life.

So that report caught my attention

in ways that political stunts couldn't.

It was put together

by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, or ICIMOD,

which is based in Nepal.

Scientists and experts have studied our glaciers for decades,

and their report kept me awake at night, agonizing about the bad news

and what it meant for my country

and my people.

So after several sleepless nights,

I went to Nepal to visit ICIMOD.

I found a team of highly competent and dedicated scientists there,

and here's what they told me.

Number one:

the Hindu Kush Himalaya glaciers have been melting for some time now.

Take that glacier, for instance.

It's on Mount Everest.

As you can see, this once massive glacier has already lost much of its ice.

Number two:

the glaciers are now melting much more quickly --

so quickly, in fact, that at just 1.5 degrees centigrade of global warming,

one-third of the glaciers would melt.

At two degrees centigrade of global warming,

half the glaciers would disappear.

And if current trends were to continue,

a full two-thirds of our glaciers would vanish.

Number three:

global warming means that our mountains receive more rain and less snow ...

and, unlike snowfall, rain melts ice,

which just hurts the health of our glaciers.

Number four:

pollution in the region has increased the amount of black carbon

that's deposited on our glaciers.

Black carbon is like soot.

Black carbon absorbs heat

and just accelerates the melting of glaciers.

To summarize,

our glaciers are melting rapidly,

and global warming is making them melt much more quickly.

But what does this mean?

It means that the 240 million people

who live in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region --

in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, China, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar

and my own beloved country, Bhutan --

these people will be directly affected.

When glaciers melt,

when there's more rain and less snow,

there will be huge changes in the way water behaves.

There will be more extremes:

more intense rain, more flash floods, more landslides,

more glacial lake outburst floods.

All this will cause unimaginable destruction

in a region that already has some of the poorest people on earth.

But it's not just the people in the immediate region

who'll be affected.

People living downstream will also be hit hard.

That's because 10 of their major rivers

originate in the Hindu Kush Himalaya mountains.

These rivers provide critical water for agriculture

and drinking water

to more than 1.6 billion people living downstream.

That's one in five humans.

That's why the Hindu Kush Himalaya mountains

are also called the "water towers of Asia."

But when glaciers melt,

when monsoons turn severe,

those rivers will obviously flood,

so there will be deluges when water is not required

and droughts will be very common,

when water is desperately required.

In short, Asia's water tower will be broken,

and that will be disastrous for one-fifth of humanity.

Should the rest of the world care?

Should you, for instance, care?

Remember, I didn't care when I heard that the Maldives

could disappear underwater.

And that is the crux of the problem, isn't it?

We don't care.

We don't care until we are personally affected.

I mean, we know. We know climate change is real.

We know that we face drastic and dramatic change.

We know that it is coming fast.

Yet most of us

act as if everything were normal.

So we must care,

all of us,

and if you can't care for those who are affected by the melting of glaciers,

you should at least care for yourself.

That's because the Hindu Kush Himalaya mountains --

the entire region is like the pulse of the planet.

If the region falls sick,

the entire planet will eventually suffer.

And right now,

with our glaciers melting rapidly,

the region is not just sick --

it is crying out for help.

And how will it affect the rest of the world?

One obvious scenario is the potential destabilization

caused by tens of millions of climate refugees,

who'll be forced to move because they have no or little water,

or because their livelihoods have been destroyed

by the melting of glaciers.

Another scenario we can't take lightly

is the potential of conflict over water

and the political destabilization in a region that has three nuclear powers:

China, India, Pakistan.

I believe that the situation in our region is grave enough

to warrant the creation of a new intergovernmental agency.

So as a native from that part of the world,

I want to propose here, today,

the establishment of the Third Pole Council,

a high-level, intergovernmental organization

tasked with the singular responsibility

of protecting the world's third-largest repository of ice.

A Third Pole Council

would consist of all eight countries located in the region

as member countries,

as equal member countries,

and could also include representative organizations

and other countries who have vested interests in the region

as non-voting members.

But the big idea

is to get all stakeholders together to work together.

To work together to monitor the health of the glaciers;

to work together to shape and implement policies to protect our glaciers,

and, by extension,

to protect the billions of people who depend on our glaciers.

We have to work together,

because thinking globally, acting locally ...

does not work.

We've tried that in Bhutan.

We've made immense sacrifices to act locally ...

and while individual localized efforts will continue to be important,

they cannot stand up to the onslaught of climate change.

To stand up to climate change, we must work together.

We must think globally and act regionally.

Our entire region must come together,

to work together,

to fight climate change together,

to make our voices heard together.

And that includes India and China.

They must step up their game.

They must take the ownership of the fight to protect our glaciers.

And for that, these two countries, these two powerful giants,

must reduce their own greenhouse gases,

control their pollution, and lead the fight.

Lead the global fight against climate change.

And all that with a renewed sense of urgency.

Only then -- and that, too, only maybe --

will our region

and other regions that depend on our glaciers

have any chance to avoid major catastrophes.

Time is running out.

We must act together, now.

Otherwise, the next time Nepal's cabinet meets on Mount Everest,

that spectacular backdrop ...

may look quite different.

And if that happens,

if our glaciers melt,

rising sea levels could well drown the Maldives.

And while they can hold their cabinet meetings underwater

to send an SOS to the world,

their country can keep existing

only if their islands keep existing.

The Maldives are still distant, away.

Their islands are distant from where I live.

But now, I pay close attention to what happens out there.

Thank you very much.

(Applause)