HINDU KUSH HIMALAYAS WARMING FASTER THAN GLOBAL AVERAGE

The glaciers of the HKH, particularly in the Eastern Himalayas, are experiencing alarming rates of melting.

- S V KRISHNA CHAITANYA EXPRESS IN BAKU

THE Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, covering more than 4.2 million sq km, encompasses the highest mountain ranges in the world and contains the largest volume of ice on Earth outside of the polar regions, as well as large expanses of snow. This region is undergoing catastrophic changes.

Scientists say the glaciers and snowpacks in HKH are melting and retreating at double the speed of the global average. This would have a devastating impact on millions of people, considering the HKH spans some 3,500 km in length from Afghanistan in the west to Myanmar in the east, and covers parts or all of Pakistan, India, China, Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh.

It is home to unique cultures, highly diverse landscapes, and all of the world's peaks above 7,000 meters. The region hosts four global biodiversities and is an important source of water for 12 river basins, including 10 major (transboundary) rivers—the Amu Darya, Brahmaputra, Ganges, Indus, Irrawaddy, Mekong, Salween, Tarim, Yangtze, and Yellow (Huang He)—that flow through 16 countries in Asia and provide freshwater services to 240 million people living in the HKH region and 1.65 billion downstream.

As the UN Climate Conference (COP29) gets underway in Baku, even as countries are indulging in hard negotiations to keep global warming within the reach of the Paris Agreement—with little success so far—The New Indian Express caught up with Miriam Jackson, Eurasia and Nordic Director of International Cryosphere Climate Initiative (ICCI).

One of the world's leading glaciologists who spent four years in Kathmandu, Nepal heading cryosphere work for the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Miriam gave a detailed insight into what is happening in HKH and why it is important for the world to take note of it.