Glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region are a crucial water source for around 240 million people
\nLondon
\nHimalayan glaciers providing critical water to nearly two billion people are melting faster than ever before due to climate change, exposing communities to unpredictable and costly disasters, scientists warned Tuesday.
\nThe glaciers disappeared 65 percent faster from 2011 to 2020 compared with the previous decade, according to a report by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).
\n\u201cAs it gets warmer, ice will melt, that was expected, but what is unexpected and very worrying is the speed,\u201d lead author Philippus Wester told AFP. \u201cThis is going much faster than we thought.\u201d
\nGlaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region are a crucial water source for around 240 million people in the mountainous regions, as well as for another 1.65 billion people in the river valleys below, the report said.
\nBased on current emissions trajectories, the glaciers could lose up to 80 percent of their current volume by the end of the century, said the Nepal-based ICIMOD, an inter-governmental organisation that also includes member countries Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar and Pakistan.
\nThe glaciers feed 10 of the world\u2019s most important river systems, including the Ganges, Indus, Yellow, Mekong and Irrawaddy, and directly or indirectly supply billions of people with food, energy, clean air and income.
\n\u201cWith two billion people in Asia reliant on the water that glaciers and snow here hold, the consequences of losing this cryosphere (a frozen zone) are too vast to contemplate,\u201d said ICIMOD\u2019s deputy chief Izabella Koziell.
\nEven if global warming is limited to the 1.5 to 2.0 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels agreed to in the Paris climate treaty, the glaciers are expected to lose a third to a half of their volume by 2100, the peer-reviewed report said.
\n\u201cIt underscores the need for urgent climate action,\u201d Wester said. \u201cEvery small increment will have huge impacts and we really, really need to work on climate mitigation… that is our plea.\u201d
\nWester said improving technologies and previously classified high-resolution satellite imagery meant predictions could be made with a good degree of accuracy. The world has warmed an average of nearly 1.2 C since the mid-1800s, unleashing a cascade of extreme weather, including more intense heatwaves, more severe droughts and storms made more ferocious by rising seas.
\nHardest hit are the most vulnerable people and the world\u2019s poorest countries, which have done little to contribute to the fossil fuel emissions that drive up temperatures
\nAmina Maharjan, a livelihoods and migration specialist at ICIMOD, said communities do not have the support they need.
\n\u201cMost of the adaptation is communities and households reacting (to climate events). It is inadequate to meet the challenges posed by climate change,\u201d Maharjan said.
\n\u201cWhat is going to be very critical moving forward is anticipating change,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region are a crucial water source for around 240 million people London Himalayan glaciers providing critical water to nearly two billion people are melting faster than ever before due to climate change, exposing communities to unpredictable and costly disasters, scientists warned Tuesday. The glaciers disappeared 65 percent faster […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339023,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-338986","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n