KATHMANDU: The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) has launched a regional cryosphere strategy aimed at strengthening the integrated and long-term monitoring of glaciers, snow and permafrost across the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region.
According to ICIMOD, the strategy provides a framework for regular monitoring, improved data management and enhanced regional cooperation to better understand changes in the region’s cryosphere.
The HKH contains the largest volume of ice outside the polar regions and plays a vital role in sustaining mountain ecosystems. It also supports water supplies for more than 270 million people living in the mountains and over two billion people downstream.
However, climate change is rapidly transforming the region’s cryosphere. Glaciers are melting at an accelerating rate, snowfall patterns are shifting, permafrost is degrading and river flows are becoming increasingly unpredictable.
ICIMOD warns that these changes are increasing the risk of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), snow avalanches, thermokarst, debris flows and landslides, posing growing threats to communities, infrastructure, water and energy security, and food systems across the region.
Despite more than 63,700 glaciers being recorded across the HKH, only 38 are currently monitored regularly, and just 18 percent of those meet the standards set by the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS), according to the organization.
ICIMOD said many glacierized areas remain inadequately monitored, while existing datasets are insufficient to provide a comprehensive picture of cryosphere change across the region.
To address these gaps, the strategy outlines four key priorities: establishing standardized and integrated monitoring of glaciers, snow and permafrost; strengthening regional technical and research capacity; creating an HKH CryoHub to facilitate quality-assured data sharing; and integrating scientific evidence into policymaking on water and energy planning, disaster risk reduction, infrastructure protection and climate adaptation.
The organization said the strategy is based on decades of research and field experience across the HKH and is expected to improve regional cooperation, strengthen evidence-based decision-making, and enhance understanding of the links between cryosphere change, water security, disaster risks and climate resilience.
Comment