Warming threatens crucial Himalayan water resources, forum told

Climate change poses a serious threat to essential water resources in the Himalayan region putting the livelihoods of 1.3 billion people at risk, experts said Thursday.

The mountainous region, home to the world’s largest glaciers and permafrost area outside the polar regions, has seen rapid glacial melting and dramatic changes in rainfall, experts at the World Water Week conference in Stockholm said.
“Himalayan glaciers are retreating more rapidly than anywhere else in the world,” said Mats Eriksson, programme manager for water and hazard management at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development.

Although high altitudes, remoteness and cooperation difficulties between countries in the region have made it difficult to conduct comprehensive studies, Eriksson said it was obvious “the region is very strongly affected by climate change.”

“The glaciers’ retreat is enormous — up to 70 metres (230 feet) per year,” he told AFP.

Xu Jianchu, who heads the Centre for Mountain Ecosystem Studies in China, pointed out that temperatures on the Tibetan Plateau for instance were increasing by 0.3 degrees Celsius each decade.

“That’s double the worldwide average,” he said.

This has a large impact in a region where melting glaciers and snow account for about 50 percent of the water that flows down mountains, feeding into nine of the largest rivers in Asia.

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