A tsunami in the sky’: Climate change is melting Bhutan’s glaciers and the danger is real

He wouldn't be caught dead wearing a suit. Instead of a tie round his neck, Yaku Pérez wears a Wiphala, a multi-colored flag that symbolizes indigenous identity in the Andes. His long, black hair either hangs freely or is tied in a ponytail, although he has worn a Panama hat on the campaign trail. A long time ago he changed his given name from Carlos to Yaku, which means "water" in Quechua, although he has kept his Spanish last name.

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"I think that history will tell over the long term how we can define these [government models] that can sometimes look like leftist populism and that strongly appeal to people's feelings and a certain sense of nostalgia for the past that seems prosperous, but that undoubtedly left us significant after-effects like a huge national debt and very few means to get out of this situation," Arteaga told CNN.
Meanwhile, Pérez is already talking about forging coalitions. "We're going to make alliances with all of the sectors that join our fight against corruption and strive for national reconciliation," he told CNN.
Since it's unlikely any candidate will cross the threshold of obtaining more than 40% of the vote while being ten percentage points ahead of his nearest rival, Ecuador seems poised to hold a second round on April 11. The winner will be sworn in as the new president of Ecuador on May 24.
If elected, Pérez says he will start by fighting the "many pandemics" Ecuador suffers from: "the corruption pandemic, the violence against women pandemic, and the Covid-19 pandemic that didn't cause the political, financial and moral crisis the country is suffering from."The region’s tallest peaks have never been scaled by man, nor have its picturesque lakes been disturbed. It is out of respect - locals believe the mountains, lakes and glaciers are deities, to be honoured and feared.

Yet it is the impacts of manmade global emissions that is slowly destroying them nonetheless. Rising temperatures as a result of climate change is accelerating the rate of glacial melt in Bhutan’s highlands. In the silence of the mountain, now, danger looms - a killer that could unleash at any moment.For some glaciers, annual retreat levels are up to 35m, feeding massive amounts of water into surrounding lakes. The risk of these lakes collapsing - in a phenomenon known as a glacial lake outburst flood or GLOF - has the entire country on edge.Bhutan is the only carbon negative country in the world and it takes its role in preventing global climate change seriously. The country’s constitution mandates the protection of the environment and economically lucrative but environmentally damaging industries have been rejected in favour of conservation.

But the brunt of climate change has arrived regardless of this small nation’s resistance. For Prime Minister Lotay Tshering, the impact on glaciers is both a physical and spiritual burden for Bhutan to carry.“It concerns us a lot because from a spiritual point of view, it’s not just a pool of water. Spiritually, we believe that there is life in it, we respect that and environmentally it is a fact that we are losing our glaciers to global warming,” he told CNA in an exclusive interview.

“We’re under constant threat and that is the most unfair part.”

He added: “Glaciers that are lost, are lost forever. How many lives, not just human beings, but other lives are dependent on that? Not just the country and the economy but the whole lifecycle will be destroyed. but soon in coming generations there may not be any lakes to burst. That would be a real disaster”.  Doley, a former head of Richena village in Punakha remembers that day well. After Luggye Lake burst, vast amounts of floodwaters tore down the Pho Chhu River, bringing with it damaging debris. 

“I was right here in the village, in my house. Suddenly an old relative who was living with us at the time, frantically screamed at me to look out of the window. I dashed to the window and looked below. What I saw terrified me, the 75-year-old recounted.

“The river had swollen to a dark and muddy river and upon it sat hundreds of fresh uprooted trees and logs including large swathes of undergrowth. I was beyond petrified that it was going to destroy lives and properties and there was nothing I could do,” he said.

Twenty five years ago, there was no warning for villagers living along the river. The 1994 flood killed 21 people and caused extensive damage to agricultural land, destroyed houses and wiped out fish stocks in the river. 

EARLY WARNING SYSTEM IN PLACE

Since then, scientists have more closely examined the lakes and the impacts of temperature on their stability. 

Now, a sophisticated early-warning system is installed throughout the lake and river system to give people the best chance to act before a flood hits.conviction and sentence should be reviewed.Rosalía Arteaga, who was Ecuador's vice president for several months in 1996 and 1997 and then president for a few days in 1997 (after President Abdalá Bucaram was declared unfit to govern by Congress), explained why Correa's populism, in spite of his conviction and sentence, remains popular with many voters.