Climate change crises spins around water. Sea rise, deluge and droughts are various phases and forms of climate change. Water mediates hazards and hurricanes. Shortage of water causes famines and excess of water causes deluges. Water governance unites different cultures and civilizations. Himalayan valleys form the platform for cloud bursts, flashfloods and torrential rains. Flashflood 2010 in Swat and cloudburst 2019 in Neelum Valley Kashmir have taken lives of dozens causing billion dollars economic losses.

Cloudburst is an unusual phenomenon leading to large amount of water downpour in short time due to bursting of clouds. Generally a rainfall over 100mm per hour is considered as a cloudburst event.  However, some expert think Rainfall rate equal to or greater than 100 mm (3.9 in) per hour is a cloudburst. Cloudbursts are also responsible for flashflood creation. A 25 mm of precipitation corresponds to 25,000 metric tons/km² water (or 1 inch corresponds to 72,300 short tons over one square mile) [WMO 2011]. A cloudburst is an extreme amount of precipitation in a short period of time, sometimes accompanied by hail and thunder, which is capable of creating flood conditions. A cloudburst can suddenly dump large amounts of water. Cloudburst events are infrequent as these occur only through orographic lift on rising terrains or when warm air patch mixes with cooler air, resulting in sudden condensation leading to heavy downpour.

Cloudburst occur frequently in Kashmir Valley. Local people tell the water deluged follows a strong lightning thunder. Many think the lightning triggers the cloudburst which in fact occur simultaneously.  Hot winds mover upward along inclined mountains to form dense clouds by sudden condensation leading to cloudburst and lightning. Cloudburst is a rare phenomenon hard to record. A typical video of cloudburst over Austria’s Lake can be viewed in video given in reference) [Peter 2018]. A downpour over 3.9 inches (100mm) in an hour over a limited geographical area is classified as a cloudburst. “The rain dumps huge quantity of water causing flash floods and severe damages.  Hail and thunder accompany majority of cloudbursts thereby increasing their severity.” Little less than ten inches of rain in one hour in KWP, Pakistan as well as in India were cloudburst events.

According to the Nation report, “around two dozen people were feared dead and several others reported missing on Monday after heavy rains and flashfloods in Neelum Valley area of Azad Kashmir. A cloudburst led to rain and thunder and resulting flash floods caused wide-scale destruction in the valley’s Lesswa area…Army troops were assisting civil administration in rescue and relief of the population affected by land slide near Laswa village and flashflood in Neelum Jhelum River at Nauseri, Danni. At least 22 people (more than two dozen actually [Shafiq 2019]) were feared dead and seven injured after being swept away by the flashfloods, which also damaged up to 150 houses, 70 shops and three mosques…Several people were still stranded in their houses and efforts were underway to evacuate them. The army helicopters evacuated 52 stranded individuals… The devastating cloudburst came at about 7:30pm on Sunday night which later caused a colossal land slide affecting a large part of the thickly populated village the hilly terrain.” [Nation, 2019]. Cloudburst comes all of sudden as local people say lightning sound results in sudden fall of flood waters down the hills. Monsoon mayhems have been killing dozens in Chitral region in past [Dawn 2016]. Aftermath of Neelum Valley cloudburst, reminiscent of rain water erosions on 15 July 2019, is shown in Fig.2.

Cloudbursts are common in mountainous areas, where steep rise and falls make hills a perfect platform for cloudbursts and landslides. “A large number of homes in the Laswa area of the Valley were damaged and dozens of people were swept away in the flooding caused by relentless rainfall after the cloudburst overnight.” A comprehensive review of cloudburst events in Kashmir region is reported elsewhere [Dimri 2017]. This is because the warm air currents of a thunderstorm tend to follow the upward slope of a mountain. The effects of heavy rain are especially striking on mountain slopes because the falling water is concentrated in valleys and gulleys. Mountain cloudbursts cause sudden and destructive floods. In these storms there are violent uprushes of air, which at times prevent the condensing raindrops from falling to the ground. A large amount of water may thus accumulate at high levels, and if the upward currents are weakened the whole of the water falls at one time [EB 2019]. Monsoon often brings 75 to 100mm rainfall per hour in Himalayas region.  Data on typical cloudbursts is shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Typical cloudburst events [Wiki 2019].

Climate change has worsened the monsoon mayhems in south Asia. Experts associate global warming to GHG emissions, sun oscillations around barycenter and ocean acidification phenomenon. Greenhouse effect is an established fact. Researchers in four British universities have claimed in “Scientific Reports” that global warming is due to decreasing distance between the earth and the sun. Researchers claim the temperature on earth has increased by 1°C in 200 years which may increase to 3°C in next 600 years. Sun having more than 95% mass of our solar system revolves around the barycenter that is often within sun but it may be outside due to which effective distance between the sun and earth changes [Harry 2019]. However, many researchers do not agree to these results and attribute the global warming phenomenon to greenhouse effect that can be controlled by reducing GHG emissions and carbon capturing methods such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) and planting trees. CCS is an expensive solution as it costs $69-$103 per tonne of carbon dioxide. Trees plantation appears to be the most easy and economical solution in hand to cope with global warming.

Trees reduce carbon in atmosphere. However, experts think oceans need geoengineering, not the atmosphere.  Oceans are key to the global carbon cycle as they absorb 78.5 Gt and release 80 Gt of carbon per year. According to CleanTechnia, “The oceans have absorbed between a third and half of the CO₂ that humans have emitted since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, and the process lags atmospheric CO2 increases. More CO2 will end up in the oceans. The challenge is that CO2 binds with carbonate in the ocean to make carbonic acid, reducing the amount available for shellfish to make their shells. That leads to weaker shells, and species-level threats for key components of the food chain, in addition to the direct impacts of the increased acidity.” [Michael 2019].

Pakistan completed 1 billion trees project in 2014-2018 and announced a 10 billion trees project in 2019 to cope with climate change challenge [Raza 2019].  Experts believe planting one trillion trees might be a good option to fight the global warming [Beth 2019]. Plant for the planet is a good initiative against climate change and air pollution. Trees are longest living organism on the planet.  Trees of 5000 years age are common in many countries. Trees are damaged by catastrophes, they never die of old age Trees reduce air pollution, noise and clean water. Trees around buildings increase property value by 14% as they reduce cooling demand by 30%. A healthy tree has monetary value of $10,000. Tree shades and wind buffering reduce annually $2.1 billion cooling and heating costs. Two mature trees produce annually 260kg fresh oxygen that is enough for a four member family. A single tree absorbs about one ton of carbon dioxide up to age of 40 years. Trees cause cooling by spraying water through their leaves [Savatree 2019].

Trees are lungs of earth which are on decline by deforestation. Air pollution is the second biggest problem that reduces child’s life by up to seven months [Gary 2019]. This study suggests spending £190 to £470 million a year on policies to reduce air pollution in UK. Air pollution causes 36,000 earlier deaths in UK. Fine particle air pollution responsible for 29,000 premature deaths, the rest of 7000 are attributed to toxic nitrogen dioxide. Places where nothing is spent on air pollution prevention the medical expenses increase. Trees reduce air pollution as well as global warming.  Air pollution and climate change are global hazards.

Air pollution causes 1 in 8 deaths worldwide and damages food crops. Unfortunately, 92% of the world community (Low income people) lives on places with unhealthy air quality. Three billion people using coal, wood and kerosene oil for heating cooking are victims of indoor pollution. Indoor air pollution kills 4.3 million every year. More deaths, 7 million per year, occur by outdoor air pollution mostly in China and India, who are racing each other in increasing population. Harvard University is proud of bionic leave capable of converting water in sunlight into fuels and fertilizers, and introducing cheap electrochemical methods for capturing carbon dioxide.  More than 1070 institutions in more than 30 countries have divested $8800 billion share of fossil fuels, yet Harvard has not invested its $39 billion share in fossil fuels. About 47 US universities/colleges have chosen the divestment policy yet only 10 have divested practically [Stephen 2019].

According to divestment movement, “Divestment is the opposite of an investment – it simply means getting rid of stocks, bonds, or investment funds that are unethical or morally ambiguous. When you invest your money, you might buy stocks, bonds, or other investments that generate income for you. Universities (and colleges in the US), religious organizations, retirement funds, and other institutions put billions in these same kinds of investments to generate income to help them run. Fossil fuel investments are a risk for both investors and the planet, so we’re calling on institutions to divest from these companies”.  Divestment is the strategy that hits the oil companies where it pains. World, especially oil companies, are addicted to hydrocarbon honey.

References

WMO, International Glossary of Hydrology. World Meteorological Organization and UNESCO. 2011.

Video 2019, Hum Sab, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i0DuNsKhLE

Peter M, Timelapse Captures Incredible Cloudburst Over Austria’s Lake Millstatt, Twistedsifter, 13 June 2018. https://twistedsifter.com/videos/cloudburst-over-lake-millstatt-austria/

Shafiq A, At least 28 dead, dozens missing after Neelum Valley flash floods, Tribune, 15 July 2019. https://tribune.com.pk/story/2013725/1-least-23-dead-dozens-missing-neelum-valley-flash-floods/

Nation, Cloudburst wreaks havoc in Neelum Valley, The Nation 16 July 2019. https://nation.com.pk/16-Jul-2019/cloudburst-wreaks-havoc-in-neelum-valley

Staff, Cloudburst wreaks havoc in Neelum Valley, Nation,  16 July 2019. https://nation.com.pk/16-Jul-2019/cloudburst-wreaks-havoc-in-neelum-valley

Dimri AP, Chevuturi A, Niyogi D, Thayyen RJ, Ray K, Tripathi SN, Pandey AK, Mohanty UC, Cloudbursts in Indian Himalayas: A Review, Earth Science Reviews, 168, 1-23, 2017.

Editorial, Monsoon mayhems, Dawn , 5 July 2016. https://www.dawn.com/news/1269081

Encyclopedia Britannica Inc, Cloudburst,  https://www.britannica.com/science/cloudburst

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloudburst accessed 16 July 2019

Harry C, Journal to investigate controversial study claiming global temperature rise is due to Earth moving closer to Sun, The Independent, 18 July 2019. https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-study-journal-temperature-earth-distance-sun-scientific-reports-paper-a9009811.html

Michael B, Oceans Need Geoengineering, Not The Atmosphere, CleanTechnia, 17 July 2019.M za R, PM Imran Khan Launches 10 Billion Tree Plantation Drive, Pro Pakistani, 9 February 2019. https://propakistani.pk/2019/02/09/pm-imran-khan-launches-10-billion-tree-plantation-drive/

Raza R, PM Imran Khan Launches 10 Billion Tree Plantation Drive, Pro Pakistani, 9 February 2019. https://propakistani.pk/2019/02/09/pm-imran-khan-launches-10-billion-tree-plantation-drive/

Seth B, Planting a Trillion Trees May Be the Best Way to Fight Climate Change, Study Says, Time, 4 July 2019, https://time.com/5620706/plant-trillion-trees-climate-change/

SavaTree, https://www.savatree.com/tree-facts.html https://www.savatree.com/tree-facts.html

Gary OS, Air pollution could shorten a child’s life by up to seven months, a study suggests, The Sun, 8 July 2019. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9457751/air-pollution-shorten-childs-life-seven-months/

Stephen M, Harvard says fighting climate change is a top priority. But it still won’t divest from fossil fuels, Washinton Post, 7 July 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/harvard-says-fighting-climate-change-is-a-top-priority-but-it-still-wont-divest-from-fossil-fuels/2019/07/02/b6547684-9d03-11e9-9ed4-c9089972ad5a_story.html?utm_term=.adda693e227b