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How many people will be affected by climate change in the Himalayas?

anonymouslass

Help!! revising for exam and needed help

Reply 1

Plagioclase

Original post by anonymouslass

Help!! revising for exam and needed help

There is a lot of ice in the Himalaya, it's commonly referred to as the Earth's "third pole". Much of the water in the river systems of southern and eastern Asia is charged by the annual glacial and snow melt; if glaciers deflate due to climate change, there's going to be a lower water flux into the rivers, so less accessible freshwater. This is possibly the largest scale impact of climate change in the Himalaya, although the consequences will be more serious in the countries downstream with high population density that rely on that water (particularly China). In terms of the impact in the Himalaya itself, you might want to read this article by the IUCN.

I read a book a while ago called Meltdown in Tibet (Buckley) which is related to this question, which I thought was very good (it's written as a travel book but it's on the environmental challenges facing Tibet and the Asian river systems) - you might want to give that a go after exam pressure is over if you find this area interesting!