Glaciers are melting at an unprecedented rate in the Hindu Kush mountain ranges in the Himalayas, and could lose up to 80% of their current volume this century, according to a study released Tuesday.
The report, published by the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development, based in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, warns that this is the scenario if greenhouse gas emissions are not significantly reduced.
The same document forecasts an increase in the probability of floods and avalanches in the coming years and warns that the availability of fresh water could be affected for some two billion people who live downstream of 12 rivers that originate in the mountains.
Ice and snow from the Hindu Kush mountain ranges are a major source of water for these rivers, which flow through 16 Asian countries, providing fresh water to 240 million people in the mountains and another 1.65 billion downstream.
“People living in these mountains who have contributed next to nothing to global warming are at great risk from climate change,” said Amina Maharjan, a migration expert and one of the report’s authors.
“Current adaptation efforts are wholly inadequate and we are extremely concerned that without further support these communities will not be able to cope.”
Several previous reports have concluded that the cryosphere, regions covered in snow and ice, are among the hardest hit by climate change. Recent research has revealed that the glaciers on Mount Everest, for example, have lost 2,000 years of ice in the last 30 years.
“We have mapped for the first time the links between changes in the cryosphere and water, ecosystems and society in this mountainous region,” Maharjan said.
Among the main conclusions of the report released this Tuesday are that the Himalayan glaciers have disappeared 65% faster since 2010 than in the previous decade and that the reduction in snow cover due to global warming has resulted in a decrease in fresh snow. water for the people who live downstream.
The study concluded that 200 glacial lakes in these mountains are considered hazardous and that the region could experience a significant increase in flooding from exploding glacial lakes by the end of the century.
The study also points out that communities in mountainous regions are being much more affected by climate change than many other parts of the world. According to the research, the changes in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region caused by global warming are “unprecedented and largely irreversible.”
Himalayan communities are already feeling the effects of climate change, sometimes acutely. Earlier this year, the Indian mountain town of Joshimath began to sink, with residents having to be rehoused in a matter of days.
Source: TSF
