A third of Himalayan ice cap doomed, finds report
At least a third of
the huge ice fields in Asia’s towering mountain chain are doomed to melt due to
climate change, according to a landmark report,
with serious consequences for almost 2 billion people. Even if carbon
emissions are dramatically and rapidly cut and succeed in limiting global
warming to 1.5C, 36% of the glaciers along in the Hindu Kush and Himalaya range
will have gone by 2100. If emissions are not cut, the loss
soars to two-thirds, the report found.
The glaciers are a
critical water store for the 250 million people who live in the Hindu
Kush-Himalaya (HKH) region, and 1.65 billion people rely on the great rivers
that flow from the peaks into India, Pakistan, China and other
nations. “This is the climate crisis you haven’t heard
of,” said Philippus Wester of the International
Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (Icimod), who led the
report. “In the best of possible worlds, if we get really ambitious [in
tackling climate change], even then we will lose one-third of the glaciers and
be in trouble. That for us was the shocking finding.”
Wester said that,
despite being far more populous, the HKH region had received less attention
than other places, such as low-lying island states and the Arctic, that are
also highly vulnerable to global warming... read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/04/a-third-of-himalayan-ice-cap-doomed-finds-shocking-report
