Natural hazards versus climate change and their potential impactsin the dry, northern Himalayas: focus on the upper Kali Gandaki(Mustang District, Nepal)
International audience In the Himalayas, the consequences of climate change are a fairly debated issue, mainly questioning theavailability of water resources to the lowland population.North of the monsoon Himalayas, a semi-arid, continental climate prevails and settlements rely economically mostlyon...
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ftecolephe:oai:HAL:hal-01208221v1 2024-05-19T07:47:14+00:00 Natural hazards versus climate change and their potential impactsin the dry, northern Himalayas: focus on the upper Kali Gandaki(Mustang District, Nepal) Fort, Monique Pôle de recherche pour l'organisation et la diffusion de l'information géographique (PRODIG) Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE) Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris-Sorbonne (UP4)-AgroParisTech-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) 2015 https://hal.science/hal-01208221 https://hal.science/hal-01208221/document https://hal.science/hal-01208221/file/14-Fort%20Mustang%20EES%2012665-014-3087-y.pdf en eng HAL CCSD Springer hal-01208221 https://hal.science/hal-01208221 https://hal.science/hal-01208221/document https://hal.science/hal-01208221/file/14-Fort%20Mustang%20EES%2012665-014-3087-y.pdf info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess ISSN: 1866-6280 EISSN: 1866-6299 Environmental Earth Sciences https://hal.science/hal-01208221 Environmental Earth Sciences, 2015, 73 (2), p. 801-814 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12665-014-3087-y Climate change Natural hazards Mustang District Himalayas of Nepal Arid uplands [SHS.GEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Geography info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2015 ftecolephe https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3087-y 2024-04-25T02:02:41Z International audience In the Himalayas, the consequences of climate change are a fairly debated issue, mainly questioning theavailability of water resources to the lowland population.North of the monsoon Himalayas, a semi-arid, continental climate prevails and settlements rely economically mostlyon irrigated crops, high altitude rangelands, trade and tourism. The upper Kali Gandaki (Mustang) is situated inthis area, with sharp contrasts between valley bottoms (\3,000 m) and high, glaciated peaks (up to[8,000 m).The impacts of climate change may appear in different ways. Gullying is common, and might increase with greaterclimate variability. Increased ground instabilities (earthflows and occasional debris flows) affecting extensiveshale/marly substrates are also expected, linked to changes in snow cover and seasonality. Similarly, the combinationof higher snowfall and rapid melting may favour the occurrence of flash floods. The possibility of glacial outburstfloods is less probable because of the present limited glaciation. Eventually, permafrost melting may induce rockavalanches down the steepest cliffs and might impact the adjacent valley floors. Collectively, these hazards willaffect irrigation canals and fields, new infrastructures and the associated growing settlements. Water availability inthe near future is more difficult to predict; however, any change in the amount and nature of precipitation mayaffect groundwater reserves, hence spring discharge and runoff, with consequences for agricultural products.Eventually, the overall potential increase in natural hazards may jeopardize the development of small markets and thegood connection of these upper valleys to the main urban centres of Nepal, a country with a very low economic andsocial capacity to adjust. Article in Journal/Newspaper permafrost EPHE (Ecole pratique des hautes études, Paris): HAL Environmental Earth Sciences 73 2 801 814 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
EPHE (Ecole pratique des hautes études, Paris): HAL |
op_collection_id |
ftecolephe |
language |
English |
topic |
Climate change Natural hazards Mustang District Himalayas of Nepal Arid uplands [SHS.GEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Geography |
spellingShingle |
Climate change Natural hazards Mustang District Himalayas of Nepal Arid uplands [SHS.GEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Geography Fort, Monique Natural hazards versus climate change and their potential impactsin the dry, northern Himalayas: focus on the upper Kali Gandaki(Mustang District, Nepal) |
topic_facet |
Climate change Natural hazards Mustang District Himalayas of Nepal Arid uplands [SHS.GEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Geography |
description |
International audience In the Himalayas, the consequences of climate change are a fairly debated issue, mainly questioning theavailability of water resources to the lowland population.North of the monsoon Himalayas, a semi-arid, continental climate prevails and settlements rely economically mostlyon irrigated crops, high altitude rangelands, trade and tourism. The upper Kali Gandaki (Mustang) is situated inthis area, with sharp contrasts between valley bottoms (\3,000 m) and high, glaciated peaks (up to[8,000 m).The impacts of climate change may appear in different ways. Gullying is common, and might increase with greaterclimate variability. Increased ground instabilities (earthflows and occasional debris flows) affecting extensiveshale/marly substrates are also expected, linked to changes in snow cover and seasonality. Similarly, the combinationof higher snowfall and rapid melting may favour the occurrence of flash floods. The possibility of glacial outburstfloods is less probable because of the present limited glaciation. Eventually, permafrost melting may induce rockavalanches down the steepest cliffs and might impact the adjacent valley floors. Collectively, these hazards willaffect irrigation canals and fields, new infrastructures and the associated growing settlements. Water availability inthe near future is more difficult to predict; however, any change in the amount and nature of precipitation mayaffect groundwater reserves, hence spring discharge and runoff, with consequences for agricultural products.Eventually, the overall potential increase in natural hazards may jeopardize the development of small markets and thegood connection of these upper valleys to the main urban centres of Nepal, a country with a very low economic andsocial capacity to adjust. |
author2 |
Pôle de recherche pour l'organisation et la diffusion de l'information géographique (PRODIG) Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE) Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris-Sorbonne (UP4)-AgroParisTech-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Fort, Monique |
author_facet |
Fort, Monique |
author_sort |
Fort, Monique |
title |
Natural hazards versus climate change and their potential impactsin the dry, northern Himalayas: focus on the upper Kali Gandaki(Mustang District, Nepal) |
title_short |
Natural hazards versus climate change and their potential impactsin the dry, northern Himalayas: focus on the upper Kali Gandaki(Mustang District, Nepal) |
title_full |
Natural hazards versus climate change and their potential impactsin the dry, northern Himalayas: focus on the upper Kali Gandaki(Mustang District, Nepal) |
title_fullStr |
Natural hazards versus climate change and their potential impactsin the dry, northern Himalayas: focus on the upper Kali Gandaki(Mustang District, Nepal) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Natural hazards versus climate change and their potential impactsin the dry, northern Himalayas: focus on the upper Kali Gandaki(Mustang District, Nepal) |
title_sort |
natural hazards versus climate change and their potential impactsin the dry, northern himalayas: focus on the upper kali gandaki(mustang district, nepal) |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-01208221 https://hal.science/hal-01208221/document https://hal.science/hal-01208221/file/14-Fort%20Mustang%20EES%2012665-014-3087-y.pdf |
genre |
permafrost |
genre_facet |
permafrost |
op_source |
ISSN: 1866-6280 EISSN: 1866-6299 Environmental Earth Sciences https://hal.science/hal-01208221 Environmental Earth Sciences, 2015, 73 (2), p. 801-814 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12665-014-3087-y |
op_relation |
hal-01208221 https://hal.science/hal-01208221 https://hal.science/hal-01208221/document https://hal.science/hal-01208221/file/14-Fort%20Mustang%20EES%2012665-014-3087-y.pdf |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3087-y |
container_title |
Environmental Earth Sciences |
container_volume |
73 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
801 |
op_container_end_page |
814 |
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1799487567729524736 |