Nepal: Himalayan Glaciers Melting Fastest than Ever

Nepal: Himalayan Glaciers Melting Fastest than Ever
Anil Giri

Kathmandu, Nepal

Himalayan glaciers are melting faster than ever, according to recent observations by a prestigious climate watchdog body.

There was marked acceleration in the loss of glacial mass in the Everest area between 2002 and 2005 compared to the earlier years, scientists revealed at a United Nations climate change conference in Durban, South Africa.

The findings in the report, "The Status of Glaciers in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) Region" shared at a side event organized by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) said glaciers appear to be shrinking in both the central and eastern Himalayas.

There was an indication of an overall decrease in the snow cover over the decade in the central HKH region and a slight increase in the western and eastern parts of the region, the study said.

Nepal, along with seven other South Asian countries, is situated in the HKH region.

The country-specific studies have found that depletion of the glacial area over the past 30 years was 22 percent in Bhutan and 21 percent in Nepal. Similarly, the glaciers of the Tibetan plateau are retreating at a faster rate than the glaciers of the rugged central Himalayas, which have higher debris cover.

"Until now, there was complete uncertainty on the numbers and area of glaciers and the present status of their environmental conditions in the region. This research gives us a baseline to measure the potential impact of climate change and to develop options for mitigating the impact of dynamic changes the region in the coming years," Basanta Shrestha of ICIMOD said in a press statement issued by the organization on Sunday.

The new study identified more than 54,000 glaciers covering an area of 60,000 kilometers in the HKH region by using remote sensing studies, Shrestha added.

David Molden, the director general of ICIMOD, said, "We must meet the intensity of climate change in these mountains with an equal intensity of will to mitigate and to adapt to the impacts."

Despite being listed as the region with extreme vulnerability to climate change, the debate on the rate of melting of the Himalayan glaciers has not been adequately addressed during international negotiations on climate change because of a lack of required scientific studies, particularly on systematic measurements of glacial mass in the region.

The findings, published in three reports by the ICIMOD, were released amid a meeting of mountain experts, policy makers and climate change negotiators on the sidelines of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) being held in Durban through Friday.