” In all three pillars of environment action– in adjustment, mitigation and loss and damage– we are at a grinding halt or going the incorrect method; while the effects of inaction are speeding up by the day. This report absolutely nos in on the devastating implications this will have on individuals and nature,” Saleemul Huq, report author, said in a media statement.
Glaciers throughout the region would lose in between 30% and 50% of their volume by the centurys end at 1.5 or 2 ° C of warming. If the world exceeds 3 ° C of warming– what the world is on track for under current climate policies, glaciers in the Eastern Himalaya, which covers Nepal and Bhutan, would lose as much as 75% of their volume.
Ice loss in the area, home to Everest and lots of other popular peaks, is advancing at a record speed. During the 2010s, the glaciers lost ice as much as 65% faster than they had in the previous years. And the trend is expected to intensify if greenhouse gas emissions continue at their present levels.
Glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayas are melting quick. Glaciers in the location, which stretches over four million square kilometers from Afghanistan to Myanmar, might lose as much as 75% of its volume by 2100, according to a new study. The scientists caution this might affect the lives of the practically two billion living in the location.
The Baltoro glacier in the Himalayas. Image credits: Wikipedia Commons.
Worldwide warming and glacier melt
The complete report can be accessed here.
The Hindu Kush Himalaya area stretches across Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan. Researchers have actually so far struggled to determine how climate change is impacting the region. Unlike the Rocky Mountains or the Alps, the Hindu Kush Himalayas dont have a long historic record of field measurements.
Nevertheless, new advances in satellite technology in current years, in addition to more field work, have actually widened researchers understanding of the changes underway. The new report, coordinated by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), a local scientific body, makes use of data going through December in 2015.
The scientists stated that while theres still time to save this crucial region, federal governments need to act now. This requires quick and substantial emissions cuts, Izabella Koziell, ICIMODs Deputy Director General, said in a statement. “Every increment of a degree of warming matters to glaciers here and to the numerous countless individuals that depend on them,” she included.
The findings are specifically worrying to the 1.65 billion individuals living downstream of the glacier. Water flows in the areas 12 river basins, consisting of the Ganges, Indus and Mekong, are really likely to peak around mid-century.
“Current adaptation efforts are wholly insufficient to fulfill the obstacles posed by cryospheric modification and the severe events that we now understand with a high degree of certainty will hit these currently susceptible neighborhoods with greater magnitude and intricacy,” Amina Maharjan, report author from ICIMOD, stated in a statement.
Neighborhoods are already experiencing many adverse effects. These impacts range from loss and damage to lives, home, facilities and heritage, driving displacement and leaving psychological effects on individuals. Previously this year the Indian mountain town of Joshimath began to sink and residents needed to be moved within days.
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Glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayas are melting fast. Glaciers in the area, which stretches over four million square kilometers from Afghanistan to Myanmar, might lose up to 75% of its volume by 2100, according to a new research study. Throughout the 2010s, the glaciers lost ice as much as 65% faster than they had in the previous years. The findings are specifically worrying to the 1.65 billion individuals living downstream of the glacier. “Every increment of a degree of warming matters to glaciers here and to the hundreds of millions of individuals that depend on them,” she included.