Glaciers across the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region are melting at double the rate since 2000, claimed two new reports that were released on World Day for Glaciers, March 21, by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).
The region, covering 3,500 km across eight nations including India, is a vital ecological zone, supporting over 240 million people. India’s Himalayan states, including Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and the Northeast, are part of this region. The region is considered crucial for water security and biodiversity, despite facing significant climate-induced threats.
The reports, titled ‘Changing Dynamics of Glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalaya Region from 1990 to 2020’ and ‘HKH Glacier Outlook 2026: Insights from 50 Years of Himalayan Glacier Monitoring’, claim that since 1975, the region has lost up to 27 metres of ice thickness. The report pointed out that this could have severe consequences for the almost two billion people downstream dependent on meltwater from the glaciers, the “Water Towers of Asia”.
Hindu Kush Himalaya holds highest ice volume outside poles
“HKH holds the largest volume of ice outside the poles, with an inventory of over 63,700 glaciers covering nearly 55,782 square kilometres. These glaciers are the source of at least 10 major Asian river systems, supporting the food, water, energy, and livelihood security of billions,” says a statement from ICIMOD, a Kathmandu-based global organisation working on climate challenges in the region. A copy of the statement is with The Plurals. “However, around 78 per cent of this glacier area, located between 4,500 and 6,000 metres above sea level, is highly exposed to elevation-dependent warming,” it adds.
“This isn’t a distant problem; it’s a crisis unfolding in real-time, with new disasters every summer and monsoon. The fact that ice loss rates have doubled this century should shock us all into action,” says Pema Gyamtsho, director general of ICIMOD.
The HKH region covers 3,500km across Asia, through eight countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan. “Encompassing high-altitude mountain ranges, mid-hills, and plains, the zone is vital for the food, water, and energy security of up to two billion people and is a habitat for countless irreplaceable species,” points out ICIMOD. Hit by “the triple planetary crisis” of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss, HKH is now an extremely vulnerable zone.
Crucial decade for cryosphere
An expert, linked with the study, has pointed out that the coming decade is crucial for the cryosphere, that comprises all areas of earth where water exists in solid form, including sea ice, glaciers, ice sheets, snow, and permafrost.
ICIMOD’s reports find that along with ice thickness of glaciers vanishing fast, smaller glaciers are shrinking at the highest speed. The reports add that experts have warned that monitoring of the glaciers has found huge gaps, or “blind spots”, as only seven monitored glaciers have met global standards.
“The Hindu Kush Himalaya is at a crossroads. The rapidly escalating impacts we’re seeing from water uncertainty to catastrophic floods underscore that we are in a critical decade for the cryosphere. We must scale up monitoring and invest in adaptation now,” adds Gyamtsho.
Small glaciers hardest hit
ICIMOD’s analysis claims that 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 analysis highlights the threat to small glaciers.
“…the losses are most acute for the region’s smallest glaciers — those below 0.5 km² — which are shrinking more rapidly than others,” says Sudan Bikash Maharajan, remote sensing analyst at ICIMOD and lead author of the glacier dynamics report. “This poses an immediate risk of localised water shortages for high mountain communities and intensifies hazards like glacial lake outburst floods. The danger is magnified because three-quarters of the region’s glaciers fall into this vulnerable size class. We are not just losing ice; we are facing a rapid escalation of risks,” said Maharajan
Critical data gap
Collating data from 38 monitored glaciers, the report ‘HKH Glacier Outlook 2026’ claims that “widespread wastage has doubled post-2000, signalling that parts of the Himalayan cryosphere may be nearing critical tipping points toward irreversible retreat.”
The report highlights a crucial data gap: among the 38 glaciers, only seven meet the global benchmark monitoring standards of the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS). Major glacierised regions including the Karakoram, Sikkim, Zanskar, and Bhutan remain largely unmonitored.
“In absence of adequate data, we are not sure whether the actual damage is more than we currently assess,” warns an expert.
“We are trying to navigate a rapidly changing future with an incomplete map,” said Mohd. Farooq Aslam, an author of the report, adding that, “ …Large parts of the Himalaya remain blind spots.
The sustained monitoring of representative glaciers like Mera and Rikha Samba in Nepal, and Chhota Shigri in India, is critical, says the expert, as “they are our early warning indicators for the entire mountain system”.
Major river systems at stake
Glacier losses have occurred to different extents in different areas. The highest percentage of glacier loss has occurred in the eastern Hengduan Shan mountains, where some places have lost up to 33 per cent of their glacier area in just three decades. “However, the largest absolute area losses are concentrated in the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra basins, where over 74 per cent of the region’s glaciers are found, underlining their critical vulnerability,” says ICIMOD.
“The larger glaciers above 10 km² hold nearly 40 per cent of the region’s natural water reserves. The heavily glaciated Karakoram range, home to 18 of the 25 largest glaciers, remains highly vulnerable to long-term water, food, and disaster risks with ramifications for the entire region,” it adds.