Highlights: The Himalayan region is nicknamed the third pole, as the amount of ice is important, just after the North Pole and the South Pole. Between 2011 and 2020, they melted 65% faster than in the previous decade, an unexpected speed that worries scientists. By the end of the century, they could lose up to 80% of their current volume if we expect global warming of more than 4°C. Even if states manage to contain the global temperature to plus 1.5°C or plus 2°C as foreseen in international agreements, glaciers would still have to lose between a third and a half of their volume.

The glaciers of the Himalayas are melting at an unprecedented rate, and probably irreversibly, due to climate change, according to a scientific study published on Tuesday, June 20 by the...

Himalayan glaciers melt at unexpected speed, study finds

The glaciers of the Himalayas are melting at an unprecedented rate, and probably irreversibly, due to climate change, according to a scientific study published on Tuesday (June 20th) by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). Nearly 100,000 km² of glaciers are threatened, with consequences for the water supply of nearly two billion people.

Between 2011 and 2020, glaciers in the Himalayas melted 65% faster than in the previous decade, an unexpected speed that worries scientists. AFP/Archivos

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The Himalayan region is nicknamed the third pole, as the amount of ice is important, just after the North Pole and the South Pole. But the glaciers of the Himalayas are on borrowed time. Between 2011 and 2020, they melted 65% faster than in the previous decade, an unexpected speed that worries scientists.

By the end of the century, they could lose up to 80% of their current volume if we expect global warming of more than 4°C. A scenario certainly pessimistic, but conceivable, since mountains are more sensitive to global warming. And, even if we are optimistic, if states manage to contain the global temperature to plus 1.5°C or plus 2°C as foreseen in international agreements, glaciers would still have to lose between a third and a half of their volume.

The glaciers of the Himalayas feed ten of the most important river basins in the world, including the Ganges, the Indus, the Yellow River, or the Mekong.

>> Read also: The melting of glaciers, a danger for the planet

Glacier water, essential for many activities

Patrick Wagnon, research director at the Institute of Environmental Geosciences in Grenoble, a specialist in the Himalayas, collaborated on this study: "It is still what we call the third pole, so we have a surface of current glaciers, if we look at all the high mountains of Asia, which is about fifty times greater than what we have in the Alps, It is about 5,000 km² of glacier. And, it is above all a region that is extremely densely populated, at least at the foot of these mountains. Because we have countries like India, or China, which are very populous countries, and which depend in part on this water that comes from glaciers or snow, for irrigation, for agriculture, for drinking water or for hydroelectricity.

For this research director, this is a message that is extremely alarmist since this report clearly highlights that "if tomorrow, we do not act, there are consequences that are totally irreversible, whether for the disappearance of glaciers or access to water".

ICIMOD's latest report, Water, Ice, Society, and Ecosystems in the #HinduKushHimalaya, is published today.

Building on the 2019 Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) assessment report, this major new study provides the most accurate assessment of #snow, ice, and #permafrost to date.

The... pic.twitter.com/zkxHuGcK9O

— ICIMOD (@icimod) June 20, 2023

>> Read also: The Tibetan plateau, the "water tower of Asia", threatened by global warming

Himalayan glaciers melt at unexpected speed, study finds

Himalayan glaciers melt at unexpected speed, study finds

Glacier water, essential for many activities

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