Big threat to food security

Melting is much more intense than in previous years.

- Adygene Glacier

Near a wooden hut high up in the Kyrgyz mountains, scientist Gulbara Omorova walked to a pile of grey rocks, reminiscing how the same spot was a glacier just a few years ago.

At an altitude of 4 000m, the 35-year-old researcher is surrounded by the giant peaks of the towering Tian Shan range that also stretches into China, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

The area is home to thousands of glaciers that are melting at an alarming rate in Central Asia, already hard-hit by climate change.

A glaciologist, Omarova is recording that process about the future.

"Eight to 10 years ago you could see the glacier with snow," Omorova said.

"But in the past three-to-four years, it has disappeared completely. There is no snow, no glacier," she said.