Sukhi, Oct. 14 -- It is a clear October day, high up near the glaciated regions of Bhagirathi eco-sensitive zone. But, there is barely a speck of snow on these peaks. They stand bare, with exposed grey rock. Till a few years ago, all these peaks appeared white all year round to residents of Sukhi and surrounding villages (altitude of 2300 m), now snow covers these peaks barely for a month or two. Sukhi, a picturesque village, about 30 km downstream of Gangotri, surrounded by several glaciers and glaciated regions, has been at the frontline of climate crisis. Villagers are concerned about the loss of their common resource--the Himalayan glaciers that feed the Bhagirathi and by monsoon's changing, aggressive character over the mountains. Gobind Singh's family has been bearing witness to all this. "I explored some glaciers in 1973 and 1974 along with a team of mountaineers. At that time the glaciers were very large and stable. They looked like blue rock...Glaciers are in very poor health and some may have disappeared," said Singh (71), pointing to a bare rock faced mountain side. "This used to have ice all year round." His son, Sanjeev Rana (40), is a farmer dependent on agriculture. They have some apple orchards, and grow millets, lentils and potatoes. "We grow the Delicious Royal variety of apples. These have a life of 70-80 years but now they are living only for 25 to 30 years. The harvest quality is deteriorating every year... If it gets any warmer, we will not be able to grow apples," Rana explained. According to a paper by Leibniz Institute for Financial Research, Goethe University, Bonn University and others published in Nature journal last year, there is widespread global support for climate action. In a representative survey for the study across 125 countries, interviewing nearly 130,000 people, 69% were willing to contribute 1% of their personal income, 86% endorsed pro-climate social norms and 89% demanded intensified political action. Countries facing heightened vulnerability to climate change show a particularly high willingness to contribute. In India 80% of those surveyed called for political action on climate change. The solution to preventing disasters in the para glacial zones is consultation with locals, said Mohan Singh, Gobind Singh's brother who is retired from the army and now focuses on environmental issues in the region. A sore point for locals here is a bypass planned under the Char Dham project, an all weather road that connects with the India-China border, considered to be a strategic route from a defence point of view by the Centre. The last 150 km-long stretch of Char Dham road, which will pass through the Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone, will have to adhere to a minimum width of 10m, minister Nitin Gadkari said last year. The bypass alignment is through the toe of old landslide debris that extends down from Sukhi Top to the Bhagirathi River, experts have flagged in the past. Then there is a 10 km stretch with old growth deodar trees that is up for widening also under the project. "Thousands of Deodar trees have been marked here for felling. If that happens, the hill side will definitely give way. Look at how the roots of deodar are holding the soil. Clearing these trees will only make this strategic route very unsafe. That is why we are asking for consultation for so long," added Mohan Singh....