<\/p>\n
Despite mounting concerns about the adverse impacts of climate change worldwide, people in the mountainous areas of Pakistan\u2019s Upper Indus Basin have welcomed the warmer winters these changes have brought.<\/p>\n
People living in the hilly valleys in Gilgit-Baltistan province no long suffer the severe hardship of cold winters of past decades. They say the warmer weather has improved their quality of life, allowed farmers to grow wider variety of crops, and made their fields more productive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank God, we no longer suffer the severe cold months of winters that we used to when we were young\u201d, said Abdul Aman, a farmer in Yasin valley. In the past, winter lasted from November until March, with heavy snowfall cutting villages off from the rest of the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe see less snowfall and sometimes no snowfall throughout the winter,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Local communities used have to stock up on household goods to prepare for long tough winter months ahead when activities would come to standstill because of extreme cold and heavy snow. Now people don\u2019t have to stay at home during winter; they can go out and socialise. \u201cThe traditional routine is seen no more and this has completely changed our society,\u201d explained another local Thanat Shah. \u201cThis is the blessing of God: our new generation doesn\u2019t have to worry about the winter,\u201d he said.<\/em><\/p>\n At the same time, he admitted that less snowfall has reduced water supply in spring, causing problems for farmers who depended on streams to irrigate their crops.<\/p>\n The locals of Darkut valley, in the northern reaches of Pakistan near the Tajikistan border, also say that two or three decades ago they were stranded by heavy snowfall and avalanches for one or two months every winter. \u201cThis situation does not happen now due to the relative warmness and less snowfall in the winter season\u201d, said a local resident Ashraf.<\/p>\n The warm winters are also less expensive for the local community in terms of buying clothing, firewood and fodder for their cattle, who can now graze in the open pastures throughout the winter.<\/p>\n Experts also acknowledge the benefits brought by warmer weather. Musa Khan, a deputy at the Gupis station in the extreme north of the country and senior official at the Pakistan Meteorological Department, said that Phander, Darkut and Qurqulti valleys are also no longer cut off from the rest of the country because of heavy winter snowfall.<\/p>\n