Hundreds of millions of people and a huge range of wildlife rely on the Ganges. But pollution, dams and removal of too much water mostly for agriculture have affected the flow and health of this vital river. There used to be tens of thousands of them, but now only around 1,, are left in the river.
I look forward to seeing the endangered species being able to breed and thrive in the wild. The River Ganges emerges in the western Himalayas and flows down across northern India into Bangladesh, where it empties into the Bay of Bengal. Its river basin is more than 1 million sq km, and home to over million people.
The Ganges faces a lot of serious challenges, mainly because of the fast growth of cities, agriculture and industries in recent decades. The Ganges depends on monsoon rains and glacial meltwater. A changing climate may bring more droughts and more flooding, and more extended periods of higher temperatures. We're working globally to tackle climate change, and in the upper Ganges river basin to encourage more sustainable water use.
River wildlife — including Ganges dolphins, gharials and turtles — urgently need clean and free-flowing water as well as safe protected areas away from threats on the Ganges.
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Mount Everest has long been a destination for climbers and adventure-seekers. But more than a bucket-list checkoff, the highest point in the world is hugely important to scientists studying climate change.
Scientists with the National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Everest Expedition are researching climate change, weather, water resources, and changes to plant, insect, and wildlife populations. A river is a large, natural stream of flowing water. Rivers are found on every continent and on nearly every kind of land. Join our community of educators and receive the latest information on National Geographic's resources for you and your students.
Hindus consider it sacred, they believe that bathing in Ganges will cleanse their sins and use its water for religious rituals. In Kannauj, Jagmohan Tiwari, a year-old villager, told a local channel that he had seen " graves" on the river bed. The discovery of the graves has triggered panic in the area. People fear that the bodies buried on the surface will begin to float in the river once it rains and the water levels rise.
Last Wednesday, the state government banned "Jal Pravah" and offered funds to poor families unable to afford cremations. In many places, police have been pulling corpses out of the river with sticks and recruiting boatmen to bring them ashore. There, the decomposed bodies are either buried in pits or burnt on funeral pyres. Vipin Tada, the superintendent of police in Ballia, said they were talking to village council leaders to make them aware that bodies should not be floated in the rivers and that those who could not afford a cremation could seek financial help.
Ghazipur District Magistrate Mangala Prasad Singh told the BBC that teams were patrolling embankments and cremation grounds to stop people from dumping bodies in water or burying them. But his team is still finding one or two bodies in the river every day. Additional reporting by Soutik Biswas and Vikas Pandey. Image source, Getty Images.
Funeral pyres are lit by the Ganges in Allahabad, where bodies have been washing downstream for days. River beds dotted with graves.
Extreme rainfall events — Brahmaputra. Extreme rainfall events — Ganges. Extreme rainfall events — Indus. Extreme rainfall events — Salween and Mekong. Future contribution of snow and glacier melt to river flow: Projected total flow and average discharge by —, RCP 4. Future contribution of snow and glacier melt to river flow: Projected total flow and average discharge by —, RCP 8.
Hindu Kush Himalayan region population and area. HKH climate indicators — Rainfall. How mountain glaciers gain and lose mass. Kailash Sacred Landscape. Population in the river basins of the Hindu Kush Himalayas.
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