Four years after scientists put out a worrying report about the melting Himalayan icecap<\/a>, they have now warned that the problem is even more serious than earlier thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The new study provides what is said to be the most accurate assessment of snow, ice, and permafrost in the Himalayas to date: that Himalayan glaciers could lose up to 80% of their ice mass by the end of this century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The findings cite grave consequences not just to the mountains but to nearly 2 billion people living downstream in Asian countries that depend on water from the world\u2019s highest mountains.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development ICIMOD<\/a> had brought out the Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment in 2019. But the new report says Himalayan glaciers disappeared 65% faster in the 2010s than in the previous decades. At that rate, the melting will accelerate in the coming decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Water, Ice, Society, and Ecosystems in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HI-WISE) report<\/a> draws on recent scientific advances to map out how melting snow, ice, and permafrost in the mountains will affect water, ecosystems, and society in the Himalayan watershed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The peer-reviewed study warns of grave consequences to the region which provides freshwater services to a quarter of the world’s population and is home to four global biodiversity hotspots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The HI-WISE report projects \u2018peak water\u2019 by mid-century after which there will be less and less water available on Himalayan rivers for irrigation, household use, industries and hydropower. At the same time, extreme weather due to climate change will also increase the risk of landslides and floods in this geologically and ecologically fragile<\/a> mountain region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Climate inaction is accelerating,\u201d warns Saleem ul Huq of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development in Bangladesh. \u201cThis report shows that the HKH region is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. We must act now to protect this region and its people.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The report says the impact of the melting cryosphere on fragile mountain habitats is particularly acute, and it will have cascading impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018With 67% of the HKH’s eco-regions and 39% of the region’s four global biodiversity hotspots outside protected areas, the HKH\u2019s extraordinary biodiversity is particularly vulnerable to climate impacts,\u2019 the report warns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"SAIPAL](\"https:\/\/publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com\/pb-nepalitimes\/swp\/asv65r\/media\/20230621040628_51ccf5b6d175b87e3c21797110dfa3d0ce8e86562ae402810de260206318857c.png\")