In the frozen valleys of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistani farmers are fighting the shortage of water by building artificial glaciers with a way as imposing ice cones.
These “ice stupas” are handmade in winter when spraying water in the icy air, where it becomes ice and accumulates in massive structures that melt slowly in spring, providing irrigation when natural glacial melting has not yet begun.
The YouTube tutorial becomes a survival tool
The idea was not born locally. He arrived from the other side of the border in Ladakh, India, where environmentalist Sonam Wangchuk developed the concept almost a decade ago.
“We discover artificial glaciers on YouTube,” said Ghulam Haider Hashmi, a Hussainabad farmer. “We study the online process and build the first.”
Despite the tensions between the two countries, knowledge traveled through digital borders and found anxious users in Gilgit Baltistan.
Science behind stupas
Zakir Hussain Zakir, professor at the University of Baltistan, explained how it works.
“Water must be driven up to freeze in the air when the temperature is below zero,” he said.
The result is a cone -shaped ice formation that resembles a Buddhist stupa. These towers gradually melt in spring, imitating the natural glacial fusion and supporting early planting.
A new agricultural rhythm
Muhammad Raza, a farmer in Hussainabad, said eight ice stupas were built this winter, storing almost 20 million liters of water.
“Before, we had to wait until June so that the glaciers melt. Now we can start planting much earlier,” he said.
Bashir Ahmed, a 26 -year -old farmer in the nearby village of Pari, added that the improved water supply has led to multiple crops.
“We used to have a growth season. Now we can grow wheat, barley and potatoes up to three times a year,” he said.
A growing movement in the mountains
More than 20 villages in Gilgit-Baltistan have adopted the technique since the first stupas were built in 2018.
According to Rashid-Din-Din, head of the GLOF-2 program under the climatic adaptation initiative of a Pakistan, more than 16,000 people now benefit from the irrigation of the ice staple.
The method avoids the need for expensive infrastructure such as deposits or water tanks and adapts well to local topography and weather.
The climate impact hits harder in the north
The regions of northern Pakistan are in the first line of climate change. Temperatures in the country have increased twice as quickly as the global average, and the snowfall is decreasing in places that once depended on it.
“From the end of October to the beginning of April, we used to receive strong snowfall,” said Sher Muhammad, a glacial expert at Icimod. “Now the winters are much drier.”
Most of the region’s water traditionally comes from the spring thaw, not the glacial melting, which makes the winter precipitation vital.
Local innovation, global relevance
With limited resources, Gilgit-Baltistan residents have found an environmentally solid and profitable way to adapt.
“Faced with climate change, there are neither rich nor poor, they are all vulnerable,” said Yasir Parvi, 24. “In our town, we risk the ice stupas. And it worked.”
