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Himalayan glaciers pose flooding threat, says green group

Local settlements are at increased risk of flooding as climate change warms up the lofty Himalayas and melts glaciers, Reuters reported the World Conservation Union (IUCN) as warning at Davos on Thursday.

Melting, which is more acute because of the Himalayas’ great height, the report said, causes lakes to form at the base of glaciers, which may then break their banks and flood down the valleys.

"When the glaciers recede there’s a growing danger of glacial dams collapsing," IUCN director general Julia Marton-Lefevre was reported as saying at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. "The effect will be very dramatic… There’s a lot of poor people living at the foot of the Himalaya," she said.

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