Himalayas’ glacier loss threatens 2 billion people in ‘greatest problem of climate change’
Conflicts, such as the Iran war, are diverting global attention away from the ecological crisis, scientists warn
Accelerating glacial retreat in the Himalayas over the past decades is threatening over 2 billion people in the region who depend on meltwater from the “water tower of Asia” for their daily needs, according to climate scientists.
“This is the first time we have this field-observed data that is giving us a signal that the mass loss has increased,” said Mohd Farooq Azam, a cryosphere specialist at ICIMOD and one of the report’s authors. “We can now see that there is a trend, which allows us to identify which glaciers to monitor.”
The HKH stretches 3,500km (2,174 miles) across eight countries, from Afghanistan in the west to Myanmar in the east. It is home to over 54,000 glaciers that feed 10 of Asia’s largest river systems – Yangtze, Ganges, Mekong and Irrawaddy, among others – sustaining food, water, energy and livelihoods for billions in the region and downstream communities.
