Other than the polar regions, the Himalayas follow as the largest deposit of frozen water in the world, especially in the case of Himalayan glaciers. Himalayan glaciers make up about 17 per cent of the Himalayas and about 37 per cent of the Karakoram Range.
The water melted from Himalayan glaciers form the headwaters for many major river catchments in the Indian subcontinent. This discharge of headwater makes up for about 70 to 80 per cent of the melting of snow and ice from the highlands. In such a scenario, global warming and climate change can have significant impacts on the flow of water into river catchments.
Climate Change Impacts in the Tibetan Plateau
Consisting of enormous amounts of snow and ice, the Tibetan Plateau is sometimes referred to as The Third Pole and also The Water Tower of Asia and holds the Hindu Kush Himalayan Ice Sheet – the world’s largest ice mass outside the two poles. The Tibetan Plateau has more than 45,000 Himalayan glaciers that cover a total area of more than 105,000 sq km. The Tibetan Plateau is the highest region on Earth with an average elevation of about 4,500 m above sea level and covers an area of about 2.5 million sq km (Norbu, 2011). The Tibetan Plateau has the Himalayas in the south, the Kunlun Range across the north and the Karakorum Range towards the west.
The largest river run-off out of any location in the world occurs from the rivers originating from the Tibetan Plateau that are fed by melting glaciers. In the summer months about 70 per cent of the headwater in the Ganges for example is fed by glaciers from the Tibetan Plateau. As such, with climate change water supply and drainage is expected to be severely affected due to its effects on melting glaciers, with India particularly affected by headwater discharge from the Himalayas.
Unlike Arctic and Antarctic permafrost, the permafrost prevailing in the Tibetan Plateau is alpine permafrost. This sort of permafrost tends to be warm permafrost combined with rich ground ice and this makes areas covered by this form of permafrost very vulnerable to global warming and climate change.
It is estimated that about 12,300 million tonnes of carbon are stored in the alpine permafrost of the Tibetan Plateau (Norbu, 2011). This can potentially become a major source of methane emissions – a greenhouse gas. The melting of permafrost in the Tibetan Plateau can occur in a vicious cycle whereby warming might induce more melting and the corresponding release of greenhouse gases.
Although the vegetation in the Tibetan Plateau can act as major carbon sinks in the region, the ecosystem in the Tibetan Plateau is undergoing major changes due to global warming. The glaciers here are receding, numerous lakes are shrinking or disappearing, wetlands are drying up, permafrost is thawing, and the headwater discharge in many rivers is becoming lesser. Also abnormal phenomena are being observed, such as non-sequential rainfall, reduced growth of young livestock, delays in the milking season for cattle, etc.
It is also observed that the thaw in the spring season is occurring earlier, which is causing the permafrost to melt faster than the plants can access the water – leading to a loss of wetlands. It is expected that an increased rate of evapo-transpiration due to global warming can also intensify the desertification process in the Tibetan Plateau and adjoining regions (Klein, 2005). Desertification can adversely affect vegetation as carbon sinks and also the carbon sequestration properties of moisture and permafrost. The prospects for environmental degradation however, can be multi-faceted, with the principal threats being glacial retreat, desertification and the melting of permafrost.
The Impacts of Himalayan Glaciers on River Catchments
Contradicting reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Thayyen and Gergan (2009) argue that glacial retreat in the Himalayas will not necessarily result in greater headwater flow into Himalayan river catchments. Arguing that the previous view focuses only on glacial outlets, they cite Hasnain’s (2008) paper who observed that the adverse effect was in fact glacial shrinkage due to global warming that can in turn cause a high run-off. This however also could reduce the overall capacities of Himalayan glaciers to provide headwater.
Hasnain comments on the reduction in glacial dimensions with climate change and states that Himalayan glaciers as a water source cannot be assumed as permanent. He observes that Himalayan glaciers would need to maintain a specific mass balance of between 90 and 78 cm to prevent large scale loss of glacial ice. However, Himalayan glaciers are losing ice, and this could pose a serious threat to the availability of water in India and in adjoining regions linked to Himalayan river catchments.
Hasnain’s studies point towards that fact that Himalayan glacial run-off has increased in the recent past and shall continue to advance with the increase in glacial shrinkage. With enough glacial shrinkage, Hasnain expects significant decreases in the headwater discharged to river catchments. River catchments affected by headwater discharges from Himalayan glaciers such as the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Indus catchments are expected to greatly affected by glacial shrinkage, along with a host of other river systems drawing water from Himalayan glaciers. This could have severe implications for the discharge and availability of fresh water in areas fed by these river catchments.
Case Study: Hydrology of the Bhagirathi-Ganga Basin
The Bhagirathi river is one of the principal tributaries of the river Ganges and arises in the Gangotri glacier Goumukh. It forms a moauntainous catchment with the Ganges until it joins the Alaknanda, another tributary, at Devprayag to join with the river Ganges. The basin comprises water from 238 glaciers with a total ice volume of about 67.02 cu km. The average Monsoon precipitation in the headwaters for this basin is between 1,000 and 2,500 mm (Hasnain, 2008).
Investigations into the Dokriani Glacier were carried out by the Department of Science and Technology, GoI since the 1990s till the early 21st Century on discharge, precipitation and temperature measurements around the basin. The studies found that an increase in air temperature by 0.5oC since 1998 in the Dokriani Glacier valley had led to significant melting of glacier ice. Anomalouly high melting of the glacier has occurred due to excessive warming which has led to high run-off of glacial headwater, with an increasing rate of discharge.
The mass balance of the glacier was negative, with 80 per cent melting for the period. It is expected that with an increase in temperature by 1.5oC and an increase in Monsoon precipitation by 60 per cent, the seasonal run-off during the Monsoon season will increase to 100 per cent, which can severely deplete the glacier. The possible effects according to the research point towards reduced accumulation of snowfall, an increase in ablation due to heat, and reduced albedo due to the decrease in snowfall. If the run-off increases to 100 per cent, this can also lead to a decrease in the supply of fresh water in the basin due to inadequate replenishment of glacial ice, which can have significant implications for ecologies and lives downstream.
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On March 31, the World Economic Forum (WEF) released its annual Gender Gap Report 2021. The Global Gender Gap report is an annual report released by the WEF. The gender gap is the difference between women and men as reflected in social, political, intellectual, cultural, or economic attainments or attitudes. The gap between men and women across health, education, politics, and economics widened for the first time since records began in 2006.
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]No need to remember all the data, only pick out few important ones to use in your answers.
The Global gender gap index aims to measure this gap in four key areas : health, education, economics, and politics. It surveys economies to measure gender disparity by collating and analyzing data that fall under four indices : economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.
The 2021 Global Gender Gap Index benchmarks 156 countries on their progress towards gender parity. The index aims to serve as a compass to track progress on relative gaps between women and men in health, education, economy, and politics.
Although no country has achieved full gender parity, the top two countries (Iceland and Finland) have closed at least 85% of their gap, and the remaining seven countries (Lithuania, Namibia, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Rwanda, and Ireland) have closed at least 80% of their gap. Geographically, the global top 10 continues to be dominated by Nordic countries, with —Iceland, Norway, Finland, and Sweden—in the top five.
The top 10 is completed by one country from Asia Pacific (New Zealand 4th), two Sub-Saharan countries (Namibia, 6th and Rwanda, 7th, one country from Eastern Europe (the new entrant to the top 10, Lithuania, 8th), and another two Western European countries (Ireland, 9th, and Switzerland, 10th, another country in the top-10 for the first time).There is a relatively equitable distribution of available income, resources, and opportunities for men and women in these countries. The tremendous gender gaps are identified primarily in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia.
Here, we can discuss the overall global gender gap scores across the index’s four main components : Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment.
The indicators of the four main components are
(1) Economic Participation and Opportunity:
o Labour force participation rate,
o wage equality for similar work,
o estimated earned income,
o Legislators, senior officials, and managers,
o Professional and technical workers.
(2) Educational Attainment:
o Literacy rate (%)
o Enrollment in primary education (%)
o Enrollment in secondary education (%)
o Enrollment in tertiary education (%).
(3) Health and Survival:
o Sex ratio at birth (%)
o Healthy life expectancy (years).
(4) Political Empowerment:
o Women in Parliament (%)
o Women in Ministerial positions (%)
o Years with a female head of State (last 50 years)
o The share of tenure years.
The objective is to shed light on which factors are driving the overall average decline in the global gender gap score. The analysis results show that this year’s decline is mainly caused by a reversal in performance on the Political Empowerment gap.
Global Trends and Outcomes:
– Globally, this year, i.e., 2021, the average distance completed to gender parity gap is 68% (This means that the remaining gender gap to close stands at 32%) a step back compared to 2020 (-0.6 percentage points). These figures are mainly driven by a decline in the performance of large countries. On its current trajectory, it will now take 135.6 years to close the gender gap worldwide.
– The gender gap in Political Empowerment remains the largest of the four gaps tracked, with only 22% closed to date, having further widened since the 2020 edition of the report by 2.4 percentage points. Across the 156 countries covered by the index, women represent only 26.1% of some 35,500 Parliament seats and 22.6% of over 3,400 Ministers worldwide. In 81 countries, there has never been a woman head of State as of January 15, 2021. At the current rate of progress, the World Economic Forum estimates that it will take 145.5 years to attain gender parity in politics.
– The gender gap in Economic Participation and Opportunity remains the second-largest of the four key gaps tracked by the index. According to this year’s index results, 58% of this gap has been closed so far. The gap has seen marginal improvement since the 2020 edition of the report, and as a result, we estimate that it will take another 267.6 years to close.
– Gender gaps in Educational Attainment and Health and Survival are nearly closed. In Educational Attainment, 95% of this gender gap has been closed globally, with 37 countries already attaining gender parity. However, the ‘last mile’ of progress is proceeding slowly. The index estimates that it will take another 14.2 years to close this gap on its current trajectory completely.
In Health and Survival, 96% of this gender gap has been closed, registering a marginal decline since last year (not due to COVID-19), and the time to close this gap remains undefined. For both education and health, while progress is higher than economy and politics in the global data, there are important future implications of disruptions due to the pandemic and continued variations in quality across income, geography, race, and ethnicity.
India-Specific Findings:
India had slipped 28 spots to rank 140 out of the 156 countries covered. The pandemic causing a disproportionate impact on women jeopardizes rolling back the little progress made in the last decades-forcing more women to drop off the workforce and leaving them vulnerable to domestic violence.
India’s poor performance on the Global Gender Gap report card hints at a serious wake-up call and learning lessons from the Nordic region for the Government and policy makers.
Within the 156 countries covered, women hold only 26 percent of Parliamentary seats and 22 percent of Ministerial positions. India, in some ways, reflects this widening gap, where the number of Ministers declined from 23.1 percent in 2019 to 9.1 percent in 2021. The number of women in Parliament stands low at 14.4 percent. In India, the gender gap has widened to 62.5 %, down from 66.8% the previous year.
It is mainly due to women’s inadequate representation in politics, technical and leadership roles, a decrease in women’s labor force participation rate, poor healthcare, lagging female to male literacy ratio, and income inequality.
The gap is the widest on the political empowerment dimension, with economic participation and opportunity being next in line. However, the gap on educational attainment and health and survival has been practically bridged.
India is the third-worst performer among South Asian countries, with Pakistan and Afghanistan trailing and Bangladesh being at the top. The report states that the country fared the worst in political empowerment, regressing from 23.9% to 9.1%.
Its ranking on the health and survival dimension is among the five worst performers. The economic participation and opportunity gap saw a decline of 3% compared to 2020, while India’s educational attainment front is in the 114th position.
India has deteriorated to 51st place from 18th place in 2020 on political empowerment. Still, it has slipped to 155th position from 150th position in 2020 on health and survival, 151st place in economic participation and opportunity from 149th place, and 114th place for educational attainment from 112th.
In 2020 reports, among the 153 countries studied, India is the only country where the economic gender gap of 64.6% is larger than the political gender gap of 58.9%. In 2021 report, among the 156 countries, the economic gender gap of India is 67.4%, 3.8% gender gap in education, 6.3% gap in health and survival, and 72.4% gender gap in political empowerment. In health and survival, the gender gap of the sex ratio at birth is above 9.1%, and healthy life expectancy is almost the same.
Discrimination against women has also been reflected in Health and Survival subindex statistics. With 93.7% of this gap closed to date, India ranks among the bottom five countries in this subindex. The wide sex ratio at birth gaps is due to the high incidence of gender-based sex-selective practices. Besides, more than one in four women has faced intimate violence in her lifetime.The gender gap in the literacy rate is above 20.1%.
Yet, gender gaps persist in literacy : one-third of women are illiterate (34.2%) than 17.6% of men. In political empowerment, globally, women in Parliament is at 128th position and gender gap of 83.2%, and 90% gap in a Ministerial position. The gap in wages equality for similar work is above 51.8%. On health and survival, four large countries Pakistan, India, Vietnam, and China, fare poorly, with millions of women there not getting the same access to health as men.
The pandemic has only slowed down in its tracks the progress India was making towards achieving gender parity. The country urgently needs to focus on “health and survival,” which points towards a skewed sex ratio because of the high incidence of gender-based sex-selective practices and women’s economic participation. Women’s labour force participation rate and the share of women in technical roles declined in 2020, reducing the estimated earned income of women, one-fifth of men.
Learning from the Nordic region, noteworthy participation of women in politics, institutions, and public life is the catalyst for transformational change. Women need to be equal participants in the labour force to pioneer the societal changes the world needs in this integral period of transition.
Every effort must be directed towards achieving gender parallelism by facilitating women in leadership and decision-making positions. Social protection programmes should be gender-responsive and account for the differential needs of women and girls. Research and scientific literature also provide unequivocal evidence that countries led by women are dealing with the pandemic more effectively than many others.
Gendered inequality, thereby, is a global concern. India should focus on targeted policies and earmarked public and private investments in care and equalized access. Women are not ready to wait for another century for equality. It’s time India accelerates its efforts and fight for an inclusive, equal, global recovery.
India will not fully develop unless both women and men are equally supported to reach their full potential. There are risks, violations, and vulnerabilities women face just because they are women. Most of these risks are directly linked to women’s economic, political, social, and cultural disadvantages in their daily lives. It becomes acute during crises and disasters.
With the prevalence of gender discrimination, and social norms and practices, women become exposed to the possibility of child marriage, teenage pregnancy, child domestic work, poor education and health, sexual abuse, exploitation, and violence. Many of these manifestations will not change unless women are valued more.
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]2021 WEF Global Gender Gap report, which confirmed its 2016 finding of a decline in worldwide progress towards gender parity.
Over 2.8 billion women are legally restricted from having the same choice of jobs as men. As many as 104 countries still have laws preventing women from working in specific jobs, 59 countries have no laws on sexual harassment in the workplace, and it is astonishing that a handful of countries still allow husbands to legally stop their wives from working.
Globally, women’s participation in the labour force is estimated at 63% (as against 94% of men who participate), but India’s is at a dismal 25% or so currently. Most women are in informal and vulnerable employment—domestic help, agriculture, etc—and are always paid less than men.
Recent reports from Assam suggest that women workers in plantations are paid much less than men and never promoted to supervisory roles. The gender wage gap is about 24% globally, and women have lost far more jobs than men during lockdowns.
The problem of gender disparity is compounded by hurdles put up by governments, society and businesses: unequal access to social security schemes, banking services, education, digital services and so on, even as a glass ceiling has kept leadership roles out of women’s reach.
Yes, many governments and businesses had been working on parity before the pandemic struck. But the global gender gap, defined by differences reflected in the social, political, intellectual, cultural and economic attainments or attitudes of men and women, will not narrow in the near future without all major stakeholders working together on a clear agenda—that of economic growth by inclusion.
The WEF report estimates 135 years to close the gap at our current rate of progress based on four pillars: educational attainment, health, economic participation and political empowerment.
India has slipped from rank 112 to 140 in a single year, confirming how hard women were hit by the pandemic. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two Asian countries that fared worse.
Here are a few things we must do:
One, frame policies for equal-opportunity employment. Use technology and artificial intelligence to eliminate biases of gender, caste, etc, and select candidates at all levels on merit. Numerous surveys indicate that women in general have a better chance of landing jobs if their gender is not known to recruiters.
Two, foster a culture of gender sensitivity. Take a review of current policies and move from gender-neutral to gender-sensitive. Encourage and insist on diversity and inclusion at all levels, and promote more women internally to leadership roles. Demolish silos to let women grab potential opportunities in hitherto male-dominant roles. Work-from-home has taught us how efficiently women can manage flex-timings and productivity.
Three, deploy corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds for the education and skilling of women and girls at the bottom of the pyramid. CSR allocations to toilet building, the PM-Cares fund and firms’ own trusts could be re-channelled for this.
Four, get more women into research and development (R&D) roles. A study of over 4,000 companies found that more women in R&D jobs resulted in radical innovation. It appears women score far higher than men in championing change. If you seek growth from affordable products and services for low-income groups, women often have the best ideas.
Five, break barriers to allow progress. Cultural and structural issues must be fixed. Unconscious biases and discrimination are rampant even in highly-esteemed organizations. Establish fair and transparent human resource policies.
Six, get involved in local communities to engage them. As Michael Porter said, it is not possible for businesses to sustain long-term shareholder value without ensuring the welfare of the communities they exist in. It is in the best interest of enterprises to engage with local communities to understand and work towards lowering cultural and other barriers in society. It will also help connect with potential customers, employees and special interest groups driving the gender-equity agenda and achieve better diversity.