Himalayas thaw worry

Reuters, TT, Kathmandu: At least a third of the ice in the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush will thaw this century as temperatures rise,disrupting river flows vital for growing crops from China to India, scientists said on Monday.

Vast glaciers make the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region - which is home to the world's highest peaks topped by Mount Everest and K2 - a“third pole” behind Antarctica limit global warming under and the Arctic region, they said.

“ This is the climate crisis you haven't heard of, ” said Philippus Wester, who led the report.

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,” said Wester of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development(ICIMOD).

The report, by 210 authors, said that more than a third of the in the region would melt by 2100 even if governments take tough action to limit global warming under the 2015 Paris Climate agreement. 

And two-thirds of the ice could vanish if governments  fail to rein in greenhouse gas emissions in this century.

“ Glaciers have thinned and retreated across most parts of the region since the 1970s. Ice  in the Hindu Kush Himalaya  region would push up sea levels by 1.5 metres if it all melted, Eklabya Sharma, deputy director general of ICIMOD said.

The study said the thaw  would disrupt rivers including Yangtze, Mekong, Indus the ice in the region would and the Ganga, where farmers rely on glacier melt water in the dry season.