Two photographs, taken more than 80 years apart from the same spot, suggest that glaciers in the Himalayas have receded dramatically.
The first image was taken in 1921 by British explorer George Mallory. Three years ago, the Asia Society, a geographical group that studies the Asian sub-continent, commissioned a photographer to take a fresh image from the same spot.
A comparison of the two shows that the Rongbuk glacier, on the north slope of Mount Everest, has receded dramatically.
A spokesman for the Asia Society told the Telegraph newspaper yesterday that the pictures were “proof” that the glaciers were melting because of climate change.
“The photographs reveal a startling truth: The ice of the Himalaya is disappearing,” he said. “They reveal an alarming loss in ice mass.”
The images are among a series now on show in New York, claiming to show how changes in temperature could affect the environment.
The issue is shrouded in controversy: Earlier this year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had to apologize after claiming the Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035 because of global warming.
Even scientists who support the theory of man-made climate change said the glaciers would only disappear, if at all, in centuries.
