7 December 2010: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP), in partnership with scientists and researchers, has released a report titled “High Mountain Glaciers and Climate Change – Challenges to Human Livelihoods and Adaptation.”

The report highlights that glaciers are losing mass at differing rates around the world. Glaciers in Patagonia, followed by those in Alaska and its coastal mountain ranges, have overall been losing mass faster and for longer than glaciers in other parts of the world. The third fastest rate of loss is among glaciers in the northwest US and southwest Canada, followed by glaciers in the high mountains of Asia, including the Hindu Kush of the Himalayas.

Other key findings of the report include that: in dry regions of Central Asia, Chile, Argentina and Peru, with little precipitation, receding glaciers will have a higher impact on the seasonal water availability than in Europe or in parts of Asia, where monsoon rains play a much more prominent role in the water cycle; many glaciers may take centuries to fully disappear but many low-lying, smaller glaciers, which are often crucial water sources in drylands are melting much faster; over the last 40 years, Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) have increased in China, Nepal, Bhutan, Patagonia and the Andes; and the frequency of GLOFs in the Yarkant region of Karakoram, China, has doubled, and this has been attributed to a warming climate.

On adaptation, the report concludes that: in respect to melting glaciers and the formation of glacial lakes, siphoning off the water from such lakes is one adaptive action, but the cost and technical challenges in remote locations can be high; over 5,000 people are killed in Asia every year by flash floods and hundreds of thousands of people have been impacted in the mountain regions; and an estimated 100 to 250 million people are affected by flooding every year.

In response to the report, the Government of Norway announced it will provide US$12 million, to the five- year Hindu-Kush-Himalayas Climate Impact Adaptation and Assessment Programme from 2011. The initiative will be carried out by the Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development and UNEP-Grid Arendal. [UNEP Press Release] [The Report]

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