GULMARG, India: Winter in the Himalayas should mean blanketing snow, and for Gulmarg in Indian-administered Kashmir, one of the highest ski resorts in the world, that usually means thousands of tourists.
This year, the deep powder once taken for granted is gone. The slopes are brown and bare, a stark example of the impact of the extreme weather caused by the rapidly heating planet, experts say.
The lack of snow is not only hammering the ski industry but has a worrying impact on agriculture, the mainstay of Kashmir’s economy.
“Seeing this snowless Gulmarg, I feel like crying every day,” said adventure tour operator Mubashir Khan, who has put wedding plans on hold with his business teetering near collapse.
“In the 20 years of my working here, this is the first time I see no snow in Gulmarg in January,” said Majeed Bakshi, whose heliskiing service for high-spending tourists stands idle.
A lone helicopter waits for the few tourists who have still come, offering flights over higher peaks that have a dusting of snow.
“Our guests are mainly skiers, and they have all canceled their bookings,” said hotel manager Hamid Masoodi. “Those who come despite no snow are also disappointed.”
Ski lifts are closed, rental shops are shut and a newly constructed ice rink is a pool of dank water.
“The current dry spell is an extreme weather event — which are predicted to become more intense and frequent in the future,” said climate scientist Shakil Romshoo, from Kashmir’s Islamic University of Science and Technology.
For decades, an insurgency seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan — and military operations to crush that movement — has seen tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels killed in Kashmir.
The rebellion has lost much of its former strength, and India has been heavily promoting domestic tourism in the region, home to spectacular mountain scenery
But in Gulmarg, hotel bookings have plunged by as much as three-quarters, tourism professionals say, as hundreds of guides and scooter drivers sit waiting in the sunshine, praying for snow.
“Most foreigners who mainly come for skiing on the deep powder slopes have canceled,” Bakshi said. “I have lost about 70 percent of bookings so far.”
Perched at 2,650 meters (8,694 feet), the Himalayan resort is also home to the Indian army’s High Altitude Warfare School, located close to the highly militarised Line of Control, the de facto border that divides contested Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
Kashmir has recorded little rain, and temperatures are about six degrees Celsius (42.4 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than normal since autumn last year, according to meteorology officials.
Last month, precipitation across Kashmir was down 80 percent from past years.
Gulmarg received a few snow showers, but that soon melted.
India’s Ministry of Earth Sciences said in a 2020 report they expected the Himalayas and Kashmir would be “particularly subject” to warming temperatures.
Earlier this month, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization said the 2023 annual average global temperature was 1.45 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels (1850-1900) — the warmest year on record.
The nine hottest individual years on record were the last nine.
In Kashmir, the impact is clear. Gulmarg’s bowl-shaped landscape, beloved by tourists for the snow in winter and meadows of flowers in spring, is brown and bleak.
Scientists warn rising global temperatures are unleashing a cascade of extreme weather events.
Beyond the collapse of the skiing industry, many in the ecologically fragile region are worried about impending water shortages that would have a dire potential impact on agriculture.
Romshoo, the climate scientist, said research indicates Kashmir “will experience more frequent and prolonged dry spells,” worsening in the decades ahead.
Changing weather patterns have already altered farming practices.
Snow melt usually helps refresh the usually full rivers, but this week, authorities in Kashmir warned of water shortages and the risk of forest fires, with many wooded areas tinder dry.
Rice farmers needing plentiful water for their paddy fields have begun switching to fruit.
But that crop is also at risk, with the dry spell and sunshine meaning some trees are already flowering, blossoming more than two months early.
Ski industry in Indian-administered Kashmir melts as temperatures rise
https://arab.news/8u8tm
Ski industry in Indian-administered Kashmir melts as temperatures rise
- Climate change effects this year have turned Gulmarg ski resort’s slopes brown and bare
- Lack of snow not only hammering ski industry but also worrying for agriculture in the area
Bangladesh sets February date for first vote since 2024 mass uprising
- At least 1,400 protesters were killed in violent crackdown under ex-PM Hasina’s rule
- Interim government promises ‘all necessary support’ for upcoming elections
DHAKA: Bangladesh will hold national elections on Feb. 12, its chief election commissioner has announced, setting the timeline for the nation’s first vote since a student-led uprising that ousted long-serving Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Hasina, whose Awami League party-led government was marred by allegations of human rights violations, rigged elections and corruption, was removed from office in August last year after 15 uninterrupted years in power.
Bangladesh has since been led by interim leader Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, who took over governance after Hasina fled to India, where she is now in self-exile.
In a televised address on Thursday, chief election commissioner A.M.M. Nasir Uddin confirmed the voting date to elect 300 lawmakers and said a national referendum on political reforms would also be held on the same day.
“It’s a relief for the voters; it’s a relief for the country. It’s a relief for the investors, it’s a relief for the development partners and for the political parties and the people who did a massive job in July 2024 by sacrificing their lives and limbs to oust a tyranny,” said Prof. A.S.M. Amanullah, political analyst and vice chancellor of the National University in Dhaka.
Mass protests that broke out in 2024 began in early July as peaceful demonstrations, triggered by the reinstatement of a quota system for the allocation of civil service positions.
Two weeks later, they were met with a communications blackout and a violent crackdown by security forces.
A special tribunal in Dhaka found Hasina guilty of allowing lethal force to be used against the protesters, at least 1,400 people of whom died, according to estimates from the UN’s human rights office.
After a months-long trial, she was sentenced to death in November for crimes against humanity.
The February elections will take place in the aftermath of Hasina’s reign, with the Yunus-led administration banning all activities of Awami League, meaning the former ruling party would not be able to join the race next year.
Minor political tensions now revolve around the more than 40 million voters of the Awami League, as the public speculate “how they would move, in which party they would support or whether they would remain silent,” Amanullah said.
“(But) if you consider other than Awami League, if we consider the other political parties, I think the other political parties are sufficient, you know, to make the next poll participatory, and free and fair.”
Bangladesh last held elections in January 2024, which saw Hasina return to office for a fourth consecutive term. That vote was boycotted by the country’s main opposition parties, which accused her administration of rigging the polls.
“There is a growing demand within the society and in the community that they would cast their first vote after almost 15, 16 years. And that would be an (occasion) of big national celebration,” Amanullah said.
In February, more than 127.6 million Bangladeshis will be eligible to cast their vote. It will be Bangladesh’s 13th election since the country gained independence in 1971.
The long-awaited election process now begins with the filing of nominations from Dec. 12 to 29, which will then be reviewed over the following six days. The last date for withdrawing nominations is Jan. 20.
After the voting date was announced, Yunus pledged to “provide all necessary support” to encourage festivity, participation and fairness in the upcoming polls.
“After the historic mass uprising (last year), the country is now moving toward a new path,” he said in a statement. “This election and referendum will consolidate that trajectory, prioritize the will of the people and further strengthen the foundation of a new Bangladesh.”
For Malaika Nur, a 24-year-old Dhaka University student who took part in the 2024 protests, the elections are an opportunity for young people to formally take part in politics.
“Young people have been showing much interest in politics since July 2024. They showed us how the youth can reshape a country’s political condition. If they have a few seats in the parliament, it can be a game-changer for the future of politics in Bangladesh,” she said.
“I hope this election will be different from the last three elections held in the previous regime. There will be a festive mood, people will cast their valuable votes and will get to choose their representative … I hope the elected government will ensure safety and basic rights of every citizen, and will hold fair elections in the future and will not become another fascist.”
