A snow laden village is pictured on the outskirts of Srinagar on February 28, 2025. FILE PHOTO/Agence France-Presse
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Snowfall in Asia’s Hindu Kush-Himalayan mountain vary has reached a 23-year low, threatening practically two billion individuals depending on snowmelt for water, scientists warned in a report on Monday.
The Hindu Kush-Himalayan vary, which stretches from Afghanistan to Myanmar, holds the most important reserves of ice and snow exterior the Arctic and Antarctica and is an important supply of contemporary water for about two billion individuals.
Researchers discovered “a major decline in seasonal snow throughout the Hindu Kush Himalaya area, with snow persistence (the time snow stays on the bottom) 23.6 % beneath regular — the bottom in 23 years,” the Worldwide Centre for Built-in Mountain Growth (ICIMOD) stated.
READ: Himalayan glaciers on observe to lose as much as 75% of ice by 2100 – report
“This pattern, now in its third consecutive 12 months, threatens water safety for practically two billion individuals,” it stated in its Snow Replace Report.
The examine additionally warned of “potential decrease river flows, elevated groundwater reliance, and heightened drought danger”.
Sher Muhammad, the lead creator of the ICIMOD report, advised AFP that “this 12 months the snowfall began late in January and remained low within the winter season on common”.
A number of international locations within the area have already issued drought warnings, with upcoming harvests and entry to water in danger for populations already going through longer, hotter, and extra frequent heatwaves.
The inter-governmental ICIMOD group is made up of member international locations Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan.
READ: Low snow on the Himalayas threatens water safety–examine
It urged international locations that depend on the 12 main river basins within the area to develop “improved water administration, stronger drought preparedness, higher early warning programs, and better regional cooperation”.
The Mekong and Salween basins — the 2 longest rivers in Southeast Asia supplying water to China and Myanmar — had misplaced round half of their snow cowl, it famous.
Pema Gyamtsho, ICIMOD’s director basic, known as for modifications in coverage to deal with the low snow ranges in the long run.
“Carbon emissions have already locked in an irreversible course of recurrent snow anomalies within the HKH (Hindu Kush-Himalayas),” Gyamtsho stated.
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Asia is the area most affected by climate-related disasters, based on the UN’s World Meteorological Group, which reported final month that 5 of the previous six years have seen essentially the most fast glacier retreat on document.
