Even the animals seem confused’: a retreating Kashmir glacier is creating an entire new world in its wake. Kolahoi is one of many glaciers whose decline is disrupting whole ecosystems – water, wildlife and human life that it has supported for centuries. Guardian Sajid Raina Tauseef Ahma in Srinagar 10 Dec 2025 From the slopes above Pahalgam, the Kolahoi glacier is visible as a thinning, rumpled ribbon of ice stretching across the western Himalayas. Once a vast white artery feeding rivers, fields and forests, it is now retreating steadily, leaving bare rock, crevassed ice and newly exposed alpine meadows. The glacier’s meltwater has sustained paddy fields, apple orchards, saffron fields and grazing pastures for centuries. Now, as its ice diminishes, the entire web of life it supported is shifting. Alpine flowers bloom earlier, confusing pollinators. Musk deer and ibex lose grazing grounds, and snow leopards are increasingly spotted near villages as they run out of food to hunt. For scientists, Kolahoi represents one of the most dramatic ecological changes in the region. Shepherds report shrinking grasslands and shifting streams that affect livestock. “Even the animals seem confused by the changing landscape,” says Mohammad Siraj Khan, a 55-year-old shepherd. 'We couldn’t irrigate even half the crop. This didn’t happen even during the worst years of the 1990s' Abdul Gani Dar, farmer                                                                                  

Historical records show that Kolahoi has been shrinking since the mid-19th century. A 2020 satellite assessment found it had lost almost a quarter of its area over nearly six decades, while its snout had retreated about 900 meters since 1978. Between 1980 and 2018, agricultural land in the glacier’s Lidder watershed fell by almost 40%, reflecting the direct link between glacial retreat and water availability. “This glacier is the lifeline of the Lidder and Sind rivers,” says researcher Labeeb Gulzar. “Its loss could reshape the future of Kashmir’s water, agriculture and ecosystems.”The shifts are transforming landscapes and communities across the region, says Dr Talib Bashir Bhat, a research scholar at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir (Skuast). “Changes in glacier melt and snowline elevation alter river flows, affecting irrigation, orchards and pastures, linking the glacier directly to biodiversity and livelihoods.” He says alpine plants face changes as lower-elevation species move into newly exposed land, altering the delicate balance of ecosystems.

Rising temperatures and pollution from vehicles, wood burning and construction all darken the ice, accelerating its melt. Deforestation and growing tourist infrastructure in the upper catchment have worsened the problem. For local farmers, the changes are tangible. “The canal dried up by late June, much earlier than usual,” says Abdul Gani Dar, from Pulwama.“We couldn’t irrigate even half the crop. This didn’t happen even during the worst years of the 1990s. Now the snow is gone, and the streams vanish before summer starts.” Scientific observations underline these concerns. Prof Shakil Ahmad Romshoo, vice-chancellor of the Islamic University of Science and Technology, says Kolahoi’s mass balance is highly sensitive to temperature. “For every 1C rise, it loses about 0.65 metres of ice thickness annually,” he said. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/dec/10/kashmir-glacier-ecosystems-snow-kolahoi-biodiversity-agriculture-aoe