The Nepalese Himalayas have lost a third of their ice over the last 30 years due to global warming, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday after visiting the Mount Everest area. He called on the international community to limit global temperature increases to prevent “the worst climate chaos.”
Climate scientists say Earth’s temperature has risen by an average of 0.74 degrees Celsius over the past 100 years, but warming in the Himalayas has been greater than global averages. Glaciers in Nepal, located between India and China – countries considered the world’s largest “carbon polluters” – have melted 65 percent faster over the last ten years than in the previous decade – the UN chief is quoted by Reuters.
“I am here today to shout from the rooftop of the world: stop the madness,” Guterres said on Monday, calling for an end to the “era of fossil fuels.”
He warned that continued melting of glaciers at this rate could mean that water that cannot fit in lakes and riverbeds could flood many areas where people live. The sea level is rising at a record pace.
The situation is “tragic and accelerating”
The UN Secretary General, who has been on a four-day visit to Nepal since Sunday, emphasized that Nepal’s glaciers are melting at a record pace and the situation is “tragic and accelerating.” He called on the international community to limit global temperature increases to prevent “the worst climate chaos.”
“I have seen with my own eyes the terrible effects of the climate crisis in the Himalayas. As temperatures rise, the melting of glaciers increases, which threatens the lives and livelihoods of entire communities,” we read on the UN chief’s profile on the X platform (formerly Twitter). The entry was accompanied by a video in which Guterres warns about the effects of the rapid melting of glaciers straight from the Himalayas.
Alarming predictions of scientists
By the end of this century, global warming could cause glaciers in the Himalayas and Hindu Kush to lose up to 75 percent. its volume. This will cause major floods and water shortages for the 240 million people living at the foot of these mountains, according to a report by the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) published in June. Climbers returning from Mount Everest say the mountain is drier and grayer than before, notes Reuters.
Scientists warn of record melting of glaciers in the HimalayasShutterstock
The Swiss Academy of Sciences reported in September that over the last two years, the volume of glaciers in Switzerland has shrunk by 10%.that is, as much as between 1960 and 1990.
PAP, Reuters, tvnmeteo.pl
Main photo source: Shutterstock