KATHMANDU, Mar 22: Glaciers across the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) are melting at an accelerating rate, with ice loss rates having doubled since 2000, even as these glaciers lost about 12 per cent of their area between 1990 and 2020, two new reports by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) have warned.
Coinciding with the World Day for Glaciers on March 21, the reports—Changing Dynamics of Glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) Region from 1990 to 2020 and HKH Glacier Outlook 2026: Insights from 50 years of Himalayan Glacier Monitoring—show that the region has lost up to 27 metres of ice thickness since 1975, underscoring the severity of cryospheric change.
The Himalayas hold the largest volume of ice outside the poles and feed at least 10 major Asian river systems, underpinning the water, food, energy, and livelihood security of billions of people in downstream countries. Around 78 per cent of HKH glacier area lies between 4,500 and 6,000 metres above sea level, where warming is highly elevation‑dependent and ice loss especially acute.
According to the analysis, between 1990 and 2020, HKH glaciers lost about 12 per cent of their total area and 9 per cent of their estimated ice reserves. The losses are most severe for small glaciers below 0.5 sq km, which are shrinking faster than larger ones, raising risks of local water shortages and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) in high‑mountain communities.
The HKH Glacier Outlook 2026 collates data from 38 monitored glaciers and finds that widespread glacier wastage has doubled after 2000, suggesting parts of the Himalayan cryosphere may be approaching tipping points toward irreversible retreat. Yet only seven of these monitored glaciers meet the global benchmark standards of the World Glacier Monitoring Service, leaving major glaciated zones—such as parts of the Karakoram, Sikkim, Zanskar, and Bhutan—largely unobserved.
Pema Gyamtsho, Director General of ICIMOD, called the situation a crisis unfolding in real time, warning that “water uncertainty, catastrophic floods, and cascading climate risks” mark the coming decade for the HKH. The reports urge a massive scale‑up in glacier monitoring, standardisation of methods, and robust investment in climate‑resilient adaptation to safeguard the region’s water and people.
