The Himalaya, Karakoram and Hindu Kush mountain ranges and the Pamir Mountains, also known as the ‘Third Pole’, are among the world’s highest. Referred to as the ‘Water Tower of Asia’, these ranges are the source of 10 major rivers,. They are crucial to the water security of two billion people in Central, North-East, South and South-West, and South-East Asia who depend on them for freshwater resources for consumption, sanitation, food and energy production as well as inland waterways transport, tourism and ecosystem services.
Climate change is shifting glacial and snow melt patterns. Glaciers in the Third Pole are melting at a faster rate than the global average ice mass. The accelerated rates of melting and retreat of glaciers induced by global warming and altered precipitation regimes – and further reinforced by factors such as black carbon deposition – are driving water-related disasters and impacting multiple sectors, with women, smallholder farmers and indigenous and marginalized communities among those most vulnerable.
This session at the 10th World Water Forum in Bali, which will be co-organized by ESCAP, International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF), will take a closer look at ongoing scientific cooperation and key aspects of transboundary cooperation needed to address glacial melt and related impacts.
