FLASH
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Glaciers in the Hindu Kush of the Asian Himalayas are melting at unprecedented rates and could lose up to 75 percent of their volume by the end of the century. That's the alarm scientists are sounding as they warn of dangerous flooding and water shortages for the nearly 2 billion people who live downstream of the rivers that originate in the mountainous region.
The report from the Kathmandu-based International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) on Tuesday warned that floods and avalanches would increase more in the coming years if greenhouse gases are not significantly reduced. He said the availability of fresh water would also be affected for 240 million people living in the Himalayan region, as well as another 1.65 billion living downstream of 12 rivers that originate in the mountains.
" People living in these mountains who have contributed almost nothing to global warming are at high risk due to climate change," said Amina Maharjan, a migration specialist and one of the authors of the report. El Nino is back, bringing with it the threat of more frequent cyclones, rainfall, flooding, and rising temperatures across the globe.
Various previous reports have found that the cryosphere - the regions on Earth covered by snow and ice - are among the most affected by climate change. Recent research found that the glaciers of Mount Everest, for example, have lost 2,000 years of ice in just the last 30 years. The report found that Himalayan glaciers disappeared 65 percent faster since 2010 than in the previous decade and said changes to the region's glaciers, snow and permafrost driven by global warming were "unprecedented and largely irreversible. "
At 1.5 degrees Celsius or 2 degrees Celsius of warming above pre-industrial temperatures, glaciers across the region will lose 30 percent to 50 percent of their volume by 2100, the report said.
But where the glaciers will melt the most depends on the location. At the 3 degrees Celsius of warming that the world is roughly on track for under current climate policies, glaciers in the Eastern Himalayas, which include Nepal and Bhutan, will lose up to 75 percent of their ice. At 4 degrees Celsius of warming, this increases to 80 percent. "We are losing glaciers and losing them in 100 years," warns Philippus Wester, an environmental scientist and ICIMOD associate who was the lead author of the report.
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