Glaciers
Fresh ideas to stop the damage caused by melting glaciers
Life in the Himalayas is tough at the best of times. Crops are dependent on the seasonal melt-water from the mountain glaciers. If climate change wipes out the glaciers then the people will be forced to move.
As the global population increases and climate change tightens its grip the struggle for land intensifies. The tension over the ownership and the use of land creates new conflicts and inflames existing struggles. It also inspires creative thinking and fresh approaches to agriculture, development and conservation.
Nigerian journalist, Didi Akinyelure meets the innovators determined to maintain their traditional ways of life in the face of the worst that the climate can throw at them. In the Himalayas the locals are building their own artificial glaciers. Known as ice stupas, these mounds of ice modelled on Buddhist meditation structures can hold water for agriculture right through the summer.
Meanwhile, in the Alps, villagers are determined to save the glaciers that provide their groundwater and attract tourists. They have hired a scientist who plans to spray the glacier with artificial snow in order to deflect the heat of the summer sun.
(Photo: Didi Akinyelure on a glacier in the Swiss Alps)
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How to save a glacier
Duration: 00:29
Broadcasts
- Wed 18 Apr 2018 02:32GMT成人快手 World Service Online, Americas and the Caribbean, UK DAB/Freeview, Europe and the Middle East & West and Central Africa only
- Wed 18 Apr 2018 03:32GMT成人快手 World Service South Asia & East Asia only
- Wed 18 Apr 2018 04:32GMT成人快手 World Service Australasia
- Wed 18 Apr 2018 12:32GMT成人快手 World Service except News Internet
- Wed 18 Apr 2018 21:06GMT成人快手 World Service except News Internet
- Sun 22 Apr 2018 09:32GMT成人快手 World Service except News Internet
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The Compass
With ideas too big for a single episode, The Compass presents mini-series about society