The Himalayas are approaching a tipping point as glaciers melt faster than a decade ago, threatening water security as the region approaches “peak water” by mid-century, according to a study released this month.
As glaciers retreat, they are leaving behind unstable glacial lakes held back by little more than loose rock and ice, above valleys where millions of people live, the study found. The study was produced by Systemiq, a sustainability advisory firm, together with the Integrated Mountain Initiative, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, and India’s G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment.
Himalayan glacier mass loss had accelerated in recent decades, while only 21 glaciers were currently monitored on the ground out of an estimated 40,000 glaciers across the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region, a vast mountain system spanning eight countries from Afghanistan to Myanmar, the study found. As the Himalayas underpinned more than 20% of India’s GDP, the region made up a key piece of the country’s national economic infrastructure, upon which hundreds of millions of people depended.
As the region neared “peak water,” the point when river flows stop rising and start declining, it would have profound implications for water security.
