Overview
- Field records from 38 representative glaciers show average melt rising from about 34 cm a year before 2000 to 73 cm since, with 89% of observed years posting net loss.
- Cumulative losses include up to 27 metres of ice thickness since 1975, about 12% of glacier area between 1990 and 2020, and roughly 9% of estimated ice reserves.
- Three-quarters of HKH glaciers are smaller than 0.5 sq km and are shrinking fastest, increasing localized water shortages and glacial lake outburst flood risk.
- The HKH feeds at least ten major Asian rivers serving roughly two billion people, with steep recent losses in the Ganges and Brahmaputra basins and a 6% area decline in the Indus.
- Only seven of the 38 monitored glaciers meet World Glacier Monitoring Service standards, leaving large blind spots such as Karakoram, Sikkim, Zanskar and Bhutan that limit risk detection.