Two-degree temperature rise could melt half of glaciers in Hindu Kush Himalaya region, destabilizing Asia’s rivers: Study

Feb 05, 2019, at 09:24 am

Kathmandu, Feb 5 (IBNS): A comprehensive new study of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region, known as the world’s “Third Pole” for its vast store of ice, and home to Mount Everest, K2 and other soaring peaks, finds that even the most ambitious Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees by the end of the century would lead to a 2.1 spike in temperatures and the melting of one-third of the region’s glaciers, a critical water source to some 250 million mountain dwellers and the 1.65 billion others living in the river valleys below.