Global warming is causing the Himalaya to melt at an accelerated rate.?Receding glaciers and snowlines are the most dramatic visible proof of climate change and they are happening before our eyes within a generation. Many Himalayan glaciers have turned into lakes and there are melt pools where there were once snowfields.?Large lakes have appeared where there were once glaciers and they are getting bigger, threatening downstream communities. Even so, scientists warn against doomsday scenarios by sensationalist media or cash-hungry development agencies that exaggerate the dangers. Crying wolf too often about a Himalayan catastrophe may tune people out.
GEORGE MALLORY/ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
MELTDOWN: The main Rongbuk glacier near Mount Everest in 1921 (above) and again in 2007.
Kathmandu-based ICIMOD is organising a five month exhibition called Climate+Change starting on 11 December, the International Day of Mountains.