By Selasa, 20 Juni 2023 – 19:00 WIB
Himalayas – Himalayan Glaciers in Asia’s Hindu Kush is melting at unprecedented rates and could lose up to 75 percent of their volume by century’s end.
Scientists have said warnings of dangerous flooding and water shortages for the nearly two billion people who live downstream of the rivers that originate in the mountain region.
The Hindu Kush is an 800-kilometer mountain range in Central and South Asia west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and western Afghanistan to northwestern Pakistan and as far southeast as Tajikistan.
The report from the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) on Tuesday warned that flash floods and avalanches would grow more likely in coming years if greenhouse gases are not sharply reduced.
“The people living in these mountains who have contributed next to nothing to global warming are at high risk due to climate change,” said Amina Maharjan, a migration specialist and one of the report’s authors.
“Current adaptation efforts are wholly insufficient and we are extremely concerned that without greater support, these communities will be unable to cope,” she said.
Various earlier reports have found that the cryosphere, regions on Earth covered by snow and ice are among the worst affected by climate change.
