In a comprehensive new study, released in Kathmandu, scientists have warned that two-thirds of Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2100 if global warming is not reduced. According to the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) assessment report, even the most ambitious Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees would lead to melting of one-third of the region’s glaciers.
The study warns that if global climate efforts fail the current emissions would lead to five degrees in warming and a loss of two-thirds of the region’s glaciers by 2100. The report said Himalayan glaciers are a critical water source to some 250 million mountain dwellers and 1.65 billion others living in the river valleys.
Philippus Wester of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), who led the report, said in a press release “Global warming is on track to transform the frigid, glacier-covered mountain peaks of the HKH cutting across eight countries to bare rocks in a little less than a century.