Glaciers in the Himalayas are melting faster than ever due to the increasing global temperature resulting from climate change. The researchers found that the glaciers have lost around 40 percent of their area over the past century. The meltdown threatens water supply to millions in Asia, reported a study that tracked shrinking ice cover in the Himalayas.

“Our findings clearly show that ice is now being lost from Himalayan glaciers at a rate that is at least 10 times higher than the average rate over past centuries,” the study’s lead author, Jonathan Carrivick of the University of Leeds, said.

This acceleration in the rate of loss has only emerged within the last few decades and coincides with human-induced climate change, the report added.

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How melting Himalayas can impact India

Major Indian rivers like the Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra, their tributaries, and other smaller rivers depend on the glaciers to have a constant water supply. The Himalayan glaciers are a water source for 250 million people in the mountains and an additional 1.65 billion who live in river plains, stated a report from 2019.

But climate change-induced global warming is rapidly depleting the world’s third-largest depository of ice and glaciers on the planet.

“This research is just the latest confirmation that those changes are accelerating and that they will have a significant impact on entire nations and regions,” said Simon Cook, study co-author, University of Dundee.

The research paper, along with other scientific studies, many of which were used for the latest UN climate report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, showcase how India, in particular, is vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

From the disappearance of its major coastal cities to increased instances of natural disasters, flooding and drought, climate change puts an existential risk for India’s residents.

(Edited by : Yashi Gupta)