Nearly 2 billion people depend on Himalayan glaciers. What if they melt?
Trekkers pass through a glacier at the Mount Everest base camp, Nepal, Feb. 22, 2016. One-third of Himalayan glaciers will melt by the end of the century due to climate change, according to a recent assessment by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development.
Tashi Sherpa/AP/File
The largest area of permanent ice cover outside of the North and South Poles is under threat. The glaciers of the Hindu Kush Himalaya feed into 10 major river basins that sustain some of the world鈥檚 most populous and biologically diverse countries. Some 240 million people directly depend on them for fresh water; 1.9 billion benefit indirectly from their outflows.
But by century鈥檚 end, at least one-third 鈥撀燼nd as much as two-thirds 鈥� of the region鈥檚 glaciers could be gone, according to by the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development.
Loss of glacial mass is likely to feed into and create more glacial lakes, increasing flooding in a region already prone to natural disasters.聽This has crucial implications for the region鈥檚 agriculture and energy security, which depends on hydropower.聽Amid the troubling signs, however, researchers outlined a path to prosperity: large-scale, transnational investment, combined with closely coordinated local and national actions.
Why We Wrote This
Polar glacial melt has become one of the hallmarks of global warming. But what happens when glaciers disappear from more densely inhabited regions?
At the global level, nations must adopt transformative climate change policies, the researchers say. Locally, improved transportation and communication access can help alert residents to dangerous conditions and enable them to find safety. Particular attention should be paid to the education and empowerment of women, the report urges, as they already bear the majority of farming and nurturing responsibilities in high-risk mountain areas. Without intervention, climate could exacerbate existing vulnerabilities and gender inequity.
Combined efforts to reduce the effects of climate change and enhance disaster resilience at the community level, the researchers write, will help 鈥渆nable a prosperous, peaceful, and poverty-free people.鈥�