Himalaya – Changing Landscapes photo exhibition now in Germany
/EIN News/ (Bonn, 3 June 2009) The Himalaya – Changing Landscapes outdoor exhibition by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is currently on show at the Robert – Schuman – Platz in Bonn, Germany. The exhibition will be open until 12 June.
In the 1950s Austrian and Swiss scientists conducted extensive studies of the Everest region in Nepal. Photos taken by these scientific teams are vital in trying to understand the impact of climate change on the world’s highest mountain range, the Himalayas. Mountain geographer Alton Byers revisited the photo sites in 2007 and took replicates showing many changes. In 2008, as part of its 25th Anniversary celebrations, ICIMOD united the old and new photographs in a photo exhibition: Himalaya – Changing Landscapes. This exhibition is now being displayed in a new format in Bonn.
The Himalaya – Changing Landscapes photo exhibition aims to raise awareness of the impact of climate change and other new challenges that mountain people are facing. The stunning repeat panorama views of mountains and glaciers are accompanied by photographs of the scientists conducting glacier research in the 1950s. In the second part of the exhibition, repeat photographs from renowned Swiss photographers Fritz Berger and Toni Hagen (repeat photographs by Alex Treadway) taken in the mid hills of Nepal and Pakistan show landscape and cultural and socioeconomic changes. The four-metre long photo panels are located at Rober-Schuman-Platz in front of the BMU Building; entrance to the exhibition is free of charge.
Climate change is affecting people and the environment around the globe and this is especially evident in the Himalayas. The greater Himalayan region has the largest concentration of snow and ice outside the two poles. Warming in the Himalayan region has been much greater than the global average. Himalayan people contribute little to global warming, yet they experience some of its most severe impacts. Weather patterns are becoming more unpredictable and extreme with prolonged dry spells and very strong storm events. This phenomenon is causing concern over the long-term reduction in total water supply. Global warming is likely to have far reaching consequences — on water, agriculture, biodiversity, and the many other factors that provide a basis for people to survive. The ten river systems originating in the Himalayas serve around 1.3 billion people. The footprint of food and energy production of the Himalayan river basins reaches up to 3 billion people. There is a wide gap in the knowledge of the short and long term implications of climate change on the Himalayas. Most studies conducted have excluded the Himalayan region because of its extreme and complex topography, and the lack of adequate existing data.
Dr. Andreas Schild, Director General of ICIMOD; “Melting glaciers are just the tip of the iceberg. The changes taking place are alarming, and the time to act is now. Scientific evidence shows that the effects of globalisation and climate change are being felt in even the most remote Himalayan environments. The signs are visible, but there is very little in-depth knowledge or data available from the Himalayan region. Global measures of scientific co-operation and regional collaboration are needed to reduce this information gap. What happens in this remote mountain region is a serious concern for the whole world”.
For mountain people there are other drivers of change: migration, population growth, changes in land-use, and introduction and removal of species. On the other hand people have better access to roads, electricity, education, and communication. Remittances bring new prosperity, and tourism is increasing. But urbanisation, outmigration of men, and problems with waste disposal are also having a marked effect.
The Himalaya – Changing Landscapes photo exhibition was first unveiled in a small format at the Mount Everest Base Camp (5300m) in April 2008, making it the highest photo exhibition in the world. In 2008 the exhibition was held in Stockholm, Barcelona, and Kathmandu. After Bonn, the exhibition will travel to Switzerland and later in the year to Delhi. ICIMOD sees the exhibition as a powerful tool for promoting both the organisation and the cause – raising awareness of the impact of climate change in the Himalayas. For future exhibition dates and locations please see HYPERLINK “http://www.changing-landscapes.com” www.changing-landscapes.com
For further information contact:
Ms Nonna Lamponen
Head of Resource Mobilisation and External Relations/ICIMOD
nlamponen@icimod.org
Ms. Nira Gurung
Communications Officer /ICIMOD
ngurung@icimod.org
Tel. +977 1 5003222
www.changing-landscapes.com; www.icimod.org
Notes to the Editor
About the exhibition and ICIMOD
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is an independent ‘Mountain Learning and Knowledge Centre’ serving the eight member countries of the Hindu-Kush-Himalayas – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan – and the global mountain community. ICIMOD is a non-political intergovernmental organisation which, since 1983, has encouraged technical cooperation between governments in the region and whose primary objective is to help promote the development of environmentally sound mountain ecosystems and improve the living standards of the mountain population. The aim of the Himalaya – Changing Landscapes photo exhibition is to highlight the issue of global change, and especially climate change, in the Himalayan region. www.icimod.org
About GTZ
GTZ on behalf of the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety is supporting the Himalaya exhibition in Bonn. As an international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations, the federally owned Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH supports the German Government in achieving its development-policy objectives. It provides viable, forward-looking solutions for political, economic, ecological and social development in a globalised world, and promotes complex reforms and change processes, even under difficult conditions. Its corporate objective is to improve people’s living conditions on a sustainable basis. www.gtz.de