Threatening Report: 80% of Glaciers in Hindu Kush Himalayas to Vanish by 2100

New Delhi: The Hindu Kush Himalayan region, which contains the largest volume of ice on Earth outside the polar regions, may lose up to 80 per cent of its glaciers by 2100, stated a global report.

The report claimed that during the 2010-19 decade, Himalayan glaciers vanished 65 per cent faster in comparison to the previous decade.

With such a fast decline in frozen ground or permafrost, incidents of landslide will increase drastically.

International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is an intergovernmental institution working towards a greener, more inclusive, and climate resilient Hindu Kush Himalaya.  Its eight regional member countries are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan.

Izabella Koziell, ICIMOD’s deputy director-general, said: “Two billion people in Asia reliant on the water that glaciers and snow here hold, the consequences of losing this… are too vast to contemplate” and observed that “we need leaders to act now to prevent catastrophe”.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres had earlier warned that the flow in major Himalayan rivers, including the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra, all critical for India, may get significantly reduced as glaciers and ice sheets are expected to recede in future due to global warming.

Last year, the earth sciences ministry informed the Lok Sabha that glaciers feeding the Ganga and the Brahmaputra river basins were melting at a fast rate.