Please Help Us Save Himalayan Villages and Change Lives Forever
Global warming is causing mountain glaciers in the Himalayas to rapidly recede. This means that the water supply to remote villages becomes further and further away and creates a major challenge to the villagers who are unable to transport the water from the glaciers. Many villages rely on these glacial streams for domestic use, their animals and watering crops. The situation has become critical as villagers are having to abandon their centuries-old way of life and move to the over-crowded capitol of Leh, Ladakh, in order to survive.
Please watch this harrowing short video of the village of Kulum in Ladakh, now deserted due to lack of water:
Currently there is no support being offered nationally or internationally to stop this way of life, sustained for many generations in the natural wonders of the Himalayas, from disappearing. This is very sad considering the main cause of climate change is global powers who are oblivious to their effects in this area. The Lotus Flower Trust, the only charity as far as we know to help in Ladakh, has been asked by several villages to help fund Artificial Glaciers, also known as Ice Stupas, to save them from leaving their homes.
An Artificial Glacier, which is relatively inexpensive to install, is created by diverting water melted by the sun during the day through pipes down from glaciers and high mountain snow fields. The water is channelled close to a village in small, stepped frozen lakes or to gullies between rocks. A sprinkler is used to shoot the water into the air and it freezes as it falls, turning into ice.
During the winter, this grows into an Artificial Glacier, holding up to 500 tons of water. In the early spring months, as the ice melts, the water is piped to the village. In most cases, because of the severe weather pattern with winter temperatures as low as -30 degrees, villagers have only been able to grow one crop. But having water from an Artificial Glacier available early in March will increase yields to two crops per year, allowing villagers to sell more of their produce and increase the income for the village.
The villages of Zomal, Sabu Ayu and Kulum are all at 4,000m and above in the high Himalayas of Ladakh, populated by subsistence farming families with numbers varying from 600-1,500. Adults and children in the villages of Zomal and Sabu Ayu are in danger of leaving their homes, like those at Kulum, unless we help them fund Artificial Glaciers. Sabu Ayu, the larger of the villages, needs two Artificial Glaciers (£14,000) in order to sustain life here, and Zomal needs one (£6,000). If we can raise £2,000, the remaining balance needed for Kulum, then we would also love to be able to help these villagers move back to their homes.
Can you please help? Any amount, small or large, will be so gratefully received.
Thank you.
We have already helped the villagers of Ursi by funding £4,000 towards their Artificial Glacier.