'Marrying glaciers'

High in the mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan, communities are reviving an age-old practice to answer a modern water crisis: they are ‘marrying’ glaciers. As natural glaciers shrink and meltwater becomes less reliable, local people are carrying pieces of ice from existing glaciers to carefully chosen sites, where male and female ice are brought together and buried to grow into a new source of water. 

Known as glacier grafting, or Gang Khswa, the practice draws on centuries of local knowledge and is now being revived alongside newer approaches to storing water in the mountains. For the communities involved, however, the work is about more than adapting to climate change. It is also about giving something back to the natural systems that sustain them. 

“Ancient knowledge and modern innovation”, showing how the practice is being carried forward as communities search for ways to protect their water supply. The grafting process can take years before a glacier grows large enough to provide meaningful meltwater.