"All the glaciers in the middle Himalayas are retreating," said Syed Hasnain, a scientist at the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). "They could disappear from the central and eastern Himalayas by 2035."
The Himalayas have the largest concentration of glaciers outside the polar caps. Seven of Asia’s great rivers – the Ganges, the Indus, the Brahmaputra, the Salween, the Mekong, the Yangtze and the Yellow River —are fed by Himalayan glaciers. The glacial melt is predicted to have dramatic adverse effects on biodiversity, livelihoods and regional food security.