Himalayas approaching tipping point, millions of livelihoods at stake, report finds

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.

The findings come after the collapse of a Himalayan glacier in late August along the Nepal-Tibet border, which caused cascading landslides and ​flash floods in the valleys below. At least 1,300 people have ​been confirmed dead and more than 5,300 are missing across ⁠Nepal and China’s Tibet region.

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.

Close to 200 glacial lakes in ​India had been identified ​as high ⁠risk, with 56 classified as “very high risk”, leaving millions exposed downstream.

As the region neared “peak water”, the point when ​river flows stop rising and start declining, it would ​have profound ⁠implications for water security. 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.

Though making up around 18% of India’s land, the Himalayan region accounted for roughly 35% ​of the country’s natural disasters. — Reuters