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IPCC statement on the melting of Himalayan glaciers


The conclusion as stated in the Synthesis Report, the concluding document of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is robust, appropriate, and entirely consistent with the underlying science and the broader IPCC assessment.

The Synthesis Report, the concluding document of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (page 49) stated: »Climate change is expected to exacerbate current stresses on water resources from population growth and economic and land-use change, including urbanisation. On a regional scale, mountain snow pack, glaciers and small ice caps play a crucial role in freshwater availability. Widespread mass losses from glaciers and reductions in snow cover over recent decades are projected to accelerate throughout the 21st century, reducing water availability, hydropower potential, and changing seasonality of flows in regions supplied by meltwater from major mountain ranges (e.g. Hindu-Kush, Himalaya, Andes), where more than one-sixth of the world population currently lives.«

This conclusion is robust, appropriate, and entirely consistent with the underlying science and the broader IPCC assessment.

IPCC statement on the melting of Himalayan glaciers