<p class="title">Formed in the shadow of Mount Everest, the turquoise depths of Nepal's Imja glacial lake would be a breathtaking miracle of nature to behold -- were they not a portent of catastrophic floods.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Scientists warn that as climate change causes Himalayan glaciers to melt at an alarming rate, lakes like Imja could swell further and eventually collapse, triggering a terrifying deluge in Nepal, an impoverished nation at the mercy of a warming planet.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Those tasked with staving off disaster fear a 'glacial lake outburst flood' -- sending torrents of water, mud and rock hurtling downstream -- could reach as far as Nepal's densely populated southern plains, wiping out roads, vital energy projects and entire villages in its path.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The risk is getting bigger," said Arun Bhakta Shrestha, a climate scientist from the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"These valleys are getting more populated, and infrastructure is developing rapidly."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Hundreds of these lakes have appeared out of nowhere in the Himalayas in recent decades. A 2014 survey found one quarter of Nepal's glaciers shrunk between 1977 and 2010, leaving behind 1,466 lakes.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Twenty-one have been identified as potentially dangerous and Nepal is racing to stay a step ahead of disaster, as global warming reshapes its mountain geography.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"As a small country, there is little we can do to stop what is happening to our glaciers," said Rishi Ram Sharma, the director general at Nepal's department of hydrology and meteorology.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"But we have to do what we can do to adapt and protect our people."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Nepal's fastest-growing lake, Imja once posed little threat to the villagers of Surke, a picturesque hamlet perched high in the Everest region.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In the early 1980s, the small lake at the foot of the Imja glacier at 5,010 metres (16,437 feet) was unremarkable.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But by 2014, it had more than tripled in size, contained only by a natural wall of debris, known as a moraine, which experts warned might not hold back the waters much longer.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A year later, when a massive earthquake struck Nepal, villagers in Surke assumed Imja had collapsed and would soon bury them all.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We were terrified the quake would trigger a flood from the lake. All of us ran for safety," villager Phudoma Sherpa told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The lake miraculously held -- sparing the 12,000 people directly in its path.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But the quake served as a wake-up call for policymakers.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Experts told the government that the gigantic glacial lakes were effectively a ticking time bomb.</p>.<p class="bodytext">With thousands of lives at stake, a massive undertaking began in late 2016 to drain Imja, which then measured 150 metres deep and two kilometres (1.2 miles) long.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Only the second operation of its kind in Nepal's history, the project was a testament to the monumental challenge posed by glacial lakes, which are often remote and very difficult to access.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Yaks and helicopters transported materials and teams of workers to the high-altitude region, where they toiled in thin air for six months until a drainage canal and early-warning system were installed.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The lake was lowered by 3.5 metres, draining more than five million cubic metres of water.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Now, you have a channel. So any water that accumulates is drained out. That is how the risk is lowered," said Deepak KC, a climate change analyst from the United Nations Development Programme that backed the project. </p>.<p class="bodytext">The project cost $7.4 million, an expensive commitment for a nation heavily reliant on its wealthier neighbours and on international aid that contributed 12 percent to its GDP in the last fiscal year.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In this case, over 80 percent of the money came from the Global Environment Facility, an international fund that provides green financing to developing countries. The rest was covered by UNDP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">With a paltry economy and 26 million people, Nepal has a tiny carbon footprint compared to its giant patrons China and India, major polluters that are home to a third of humanity.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Melting glaciers from climate change pose a huge threat to Nepal -- as well as an undeserved extortionate burden, authorities say.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We feel as if we have been penalised for the mistakes we never made," President Bidya Devi Bhandari told world leaders at a climate summit in Poland this month.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We are compelled to spend (a) significant amount of our national income in addressing disasters-induced problems."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Nepal is asking the global community for further assistance to fight climate change.</p>.<p class="bodytext">For those no longer living under Imja's shadow, the cost is well worth it.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"There was a sense of fear before, but we feel a lot safer now," said Sherpa.</p>
<p class="title">Formed in the shadow of Mount Everest, the turquoise depths of Nepal's Imja glacial lake would be a breathtaking miracle of nature to behold -- were they not a portent of catastrophic floods.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Scientists warn that as climate change causes Himalayan glaciers to melt at an alarming rate, lakes like Imja could swell further and eventually collapse, triggering a terrifying deluge in Nepal, an impoverished nation at the mercy of a warming planet.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Those tasked with staving off disaster fear a 'glacial lake outburst flood' -- sending torrents of water, mud and rock hurtling downstream -- could reach as far as Nepal's densely populated southern plains, wiping out roads, vital energy projects and entire villages in its path.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The risk is getting bigger," said Arun Bhakta Shrestha, a climate scientist from the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"These valleys are getting more populated, and infrastructure is developing rapidly."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Hundreds of these lakes have appeared out of nowhere in the Himalayas in recent decades. A 2014 survey found one quarter of Nepal's glaciers shrunk between 1977 and 2010, leaving behind 1,466 lakes.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Twenty-one have been identified as potentially dangerous and Nepal is racing to stay a step ahead of disaster, as global warming reshapes its mountain geography.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"As a small country, there is little we can do to stop what is happening to our glaciers," said Rishi Ram Sharma, the director general at Nepal's department of hydrology and meteorology.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"But we have to do what we can do to adapt and protect our people."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Nepal's fastest-growing lake, Imja once posed little threat to the villagers of Surke, a picturesque hamlet perched high in the Everest region.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In the early 1980s, the small lake at the foot of the Imja glacier at 5,010 metres (16,437 feet) was unremarkable.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But by 2014, it had more than tripled in size, contained only by a natural wall of debris, known as a moraine, which experts warned might not hold back the waters much longer.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A year later, when a massive earthquake struck Nepal, villagers in Surke assumed Imja had collapsed and would soon bury them all.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We were terrified the quake would trigger a flood from the lake. All of us ran for safety," villager Phudoma Sherpa told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The lake miraculously held -- sparing the 12,000 people directly in its path.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But the quake served as a wake-up call for policymakers.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Experts told the government that the gigantic glacial lakes were effectively a ticking time bomb.</p>.<p class="bodytext">With thousands of lives at stake, a massive undertaking began in late 2016 to drain Imja, which then measured 150 metres deep and two kilometres (1.2 miles) long.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Only the second operation of its kind in Nepal's history, the project was a testament to the monumental challenge posed by glacial lakes, which are often remote and very difficult to access.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Yaks and helicopters transported materials and teams of workers to the high-altitude region, where they toiled in thin air for six months until a drainage canal and early-warning system were installed.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The lake was lowered by 3.5 metres, draining more than five million cubic metres of water.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Now, you have a channel. So any water that accumulates is drained out. That is how the risk is lowered," said Deepak KC, a climate change analyst from the United Nations Development Programme that backed the project. </p>.<p class="bodytext">The project cost $7.4 million, an expensive commitment for a nation heavily reliant on its wealthier neighbours and on international aid that contributed 12 percent to its GDP in the last fiscal year.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In this case, over 80 percent of the money came from the Global Environment Facility, an international fund that provides green financing to developing countries. The rest was covered by UNDP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">With a paltry economy and 26 million people, Nepal has a tiny carbon footprint compared to its giant patrons China and India, major polluters that are home to a third of humanity.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Melting glaciers from climate change pose a huge threat to Nepal -- as well as an undeserved extortionate burden, authorities say.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We feel as if we have been penalised for the mistakes we never made," President Bidya Devi Bhandari told world leaders at a climate summit in Poland this month.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We are compelled to spend (a) significant amount of our national income in addressing disasters-induced problems."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Nepal is asking the global community for further assistance to fight climate change.</p>.<p class="bodytext">For those no longer living under Imja's shadow, the cost is well worth it.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"There was a sense of fear before, but we feel a lot safer now," said Sherpa.</p>