Stunning evidence of the extent to which the glaciers in the high Himalayas have shrunk in the past 80 years is on display until November 11 at the premises of the Royal Geographical Society in central London.

The evidence comes in the shape of images collected by the photographer, documentary film maker and mountaineer David Breashears, who has climbed Mount Everest five times.

But more important and relevant is his role as the founder of GlacierWorks, a non-profit organisation that uses art, science and adventure to raise public awareness about the consequences of climate change in the Himalayas.

The Himalayas are home to 14 of the world's highest mountains, more than 46,000 glaciers that straddle the largest non-polar ice mass in the world. Scientists have repeatedly warned that the accelerated melting of ice in this region could have a devastating impact on Asian countries and the rivers on which they depend, such as the Yellow, Yangtze, Mekong, Salween, Irrawaddy, Brahmaputra, Ganges, Indus, Amu Darya, and Tarim.

It was Breashears' idea to replicate past pictures of famous Himalayan explorers and mountaineers to document the impact of climate change on glaciers on the roof of the world.

By following in the footsteps of the likes of George Mallory and Major E O Wheeler, and using prints of their old photographs from the first 50 years of the 20th century, Breashears located the exact point where each photograph was taken and duplicated it to illustrate how the glaciers are shrinking.

His evidence confirms what leading scientists from India, China and the US have repeatedly warned — namely, that rising temperatures over the next century in the Himalayas will boost melting and promote a dramatic loss in ice mass. The results will be more flooding in the short term, followed by prolonged periods of drought in surrounding countries.

US Professor Lonnie Thompson, one of the world's leading glaciologists, recently observed: 'The current warming at high elevations in the mid- to low latitudes is unprecedented for at least the last 2 millennia.' He went on to say that 'the continuing retreat of most mid to low-latitude glaciers, many having persisted for thousands of years, signals a recent and abrupt change in the Earth's climate system.' These changes, according to Thompson, 'may signal that the climate system has exceeded a critical threshold and that most low-latitude, high-altitude glaciers are likely to disappear in the near future.'

Indian treasures go under the hammer

Priceless gold coins, silverware, fine porcelain and valuable porcelain and paintings that once belonged to India's leading nuclear scientist and his family have been auctioned off in Mumbai for record sums.

Cambridge-educated Homi Jehangir Bhabha was born into a well-to-do Parsi family in Mumbai and was related through his mother to the country's leading industrialist clan, the Tatas. He is universally acknowledged as the founding father of India's nuclear programme and the man credited with keeping India's nuclear weapons option open at a time when the Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was committed to a policy of peaceful co-existence and universal nuclear disarmament.

Bhabha suffered an untimely death when his Air India passenger aircraft crashed into Mont Blanc in 1966 and, as he was a childless bachelor, all his personal belongings were inherited by his businessman brother Jamshed. As Jamshed too was childless, his instructions when he died three years ago were that any money from the combined Bhabha estate should be bequeathed to India's National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA)

Among the valued items that found enthusiastic buyers in the recent auction were paintings by India's leading heritage artists. They included Tyeb Mehta's 'Untitled' oil on canvas, painted in 1969 and measuring 59 x 49.5 inches, which sold for more than US$700,000.

But Mehta's was only one of the most sought-after works of Indian art in the auction. Others included paintings by the late Vasudev Gaitonde, M F Husain, Rathindranath Tagore, Jamini Roy, Krishnaji Howlaji Ara, Narayan Shridhar Bendre, B Prabha and Bikash Bhattacharjee.

Some of the other valued possessions, amounting to nearly 1,000 items, included ceramics, glass, clocks and watches, as well as jewellery and gems. The coins that were sold included a set of three British India gold coins, including an East India Company gold mohur from 1841, as well as a set of four gold coins from Hyderabad state, made up of a one Ashrafi, a half Ashrafi, a quarter Ashrafi and a one-eighth Ashrafi.

All these were squirrelled away in the exclusive Malabar Hill residence in Mumbai, which the Bhabha brothers owned and lived in until they died. They were carefully protected by Jamshed, an eccentric who remained insanely jealous of his more famous older brother.

But whereas the older Bhabha brother's legacy to his country was the nuclear bomb, Jamshed will be fondly remembered for single-handedly founding the NCPA, described back in 1969 as a project 'to secure the national purpose of protecting, preserving and developing India's immensely rich legacy in the arts and culture'.

Heritage sites at risk

The threat to cultural heritage sites in three Asian countries has been highlighted on the 2012 watch of the New York-based World Monuments Fund.

The sites in China, Vietnam and India are included in a list of 67 drawn up by the WMF to 'illustrate the ever-more pressing need to create a balance between heritage concerns and the social, economic and environmental interests of communities around the world'.

A spokesperson for the WMF added, 'In addition to promoting community cohesion and pride, heritage preservation can have an especially positive impact on local populations in times of economic distress, for example through employment and the development of well managed tourism.'

Described as a leading independent organization devoted to saving the world's most treasured places, the WMF was launched in 1996 to raise public awareness, foster local participation, advance innovation and collaboration and demonstrate effective solutions to threatened areas.

Asian sites highlighted in this year's report include the palace and gardens of China's Nanyue kingdom, dating from the time of the emperor who built the terracotta warriors in the second century BC. 'The Chinese government has built a museum devoted to the artefacts uncovered on the site,' says the WMF. 'But the site itself needs a sustainable plan for visitor access, interpretation and enjoyment by local residents.'

In Vietnam, the floating fishing villages along Ha Long Bay have been highlighted as a site of spectacular natural and cultural significance. But changing environmental conditions and the pressures of increasing tourism challenge the long-term continuity of both the natural and cultural aspects of the area.

In India, the WMF stresses the significance of the 18th century Balaji Ghat in Varanasi as an important example of buildings constructed along the Ganges to serve pilgrims worshipping at the holy river. The collapse of the main building of the Ghat points to inadequate conservation and maintenance measures, the WMF says.

WMF President Bonnie Burnham said the report was a 'call to action on behalf of endangered cultural-heritage sites across the world', adding that it 'reminds us of our collective role as stewards of the earth and of its human heritage'.

China piles pressure on Hanoi

Vietnam is under pressure from China to abandon agreements with foreign companies to explore for oil in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.

Earlier this year Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu was quoted as saying, 'I would like to reaffirm that China enjoys indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea …China's stand is based on historical facts and international law.' She added, 'Our consistent position is that we are opposed to any country engaged in oil and gas exploration and development activities in waters under China's jurisdiction.'

Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia all claim rights to the mineral wealth of the area, which China claims as falling under its exclusive jurisdiction. It is Vietnam, however, that has so far borne the brunt of Beijing's displeasure. Bilateral tensions rose last June when Hanoi claimed that Chinese ships cut cables to its oil exploration ships in contested waters around the Spratly and Paracel islands.

China has also expressed concern over agreements reached during Vietnamese President Truon Tan Sang's recent visit to New Delhi, when PetroVietnam and India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation signed a three-year agreement for oil exploration in the South China Sea.

The agreement was described by a state-run Chinese newspaper as a 'reckless attempt to confront China'.

'Just one day after signing an agreement on ground rules to resolve maritime disputes in Beijing, Hanoi reached an agreement with New Delhi for joint exploration. It is hard to tell if this shows a double-dealing mentality from Hanoi,' Global Times said in an editorial. 'Both countries clearly know what this means for China.'

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