The rate at which glaciers are melting across the Hindu Kush Himalayas has doubled since 2000, a new report by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) has found, with the most recent decade recording increasingly frequent extreme melt years and mounting risks of catastrophic floods and long-term water insecurity for a region home to billions.
The findings come on the back of visible consequences. The 2021 Chamoli disaster in the higher reaches of the Garhwal Himalayas involved the dislodgement of a glacieret and likely killed over 200 people; in October 2023, a devastating glacial lake outburst flood impacted South Lhonak lake in Sikkim, leading to deadly floods that killed over 50 people, and last year’s Dharali disaster on August 5 in Uttarakhand — where the Kheer Ganga, fed by a glaciated zone, swept away an entire market — are among several disasters India has experienced in recent years with a glacial dimension.
The Hindu Kush Himalayas hold the largest volume of ice outside the poles. Another ICIMOD report released recently and titled ‘Changing Dynamics of Glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region from 1990 to 2020’ has mapped 63,761 glaciers across the region covering nearly 55,782 square kilometres. These glaciers are the source of at least ten major Asian river systems, supporting the food, water, energy, and livelihood security of billions. Around 78% of this glacier area, situated between 4,500 and 6,000 metres above sea level, is highly exposed to elevation-dependent warming — a phenomenon where temperature rises faster at higher altitudes than at lower ones.
The latest insight on acceleration in melt is documented across 50 years of field data. The first ICIMOD report, titled HKH Glacier Outlook 2026: Insights from 50 Years of Himalayan Glacier Monitoring, draws on 302 annual observations from 38 representative glaciers recorded since September 1974. Of those, 270 — or 89% — were negative mass balance years, meaning the glaciers lost more mass than they gained. In 11% of the observation, there was recorded net mass gain. The mean mass wastage for the 38 glaciers nearly doubled in the period after 2000.
{{/usCountry}}The latest insight on acceleration in melt is documented across 50 years of field data. The first ICIMOD report, titled HKH Glacier Outlook 2026: Insights from 50 Years of Himalayan Glacier Monitoring, draws on 302 annual observations from 38 representative glaciers recorded since September 1974. Of those, 270 — or 89% — were negative mass balance years, meaning the glaciers lost more mass than they gained. In 11% of the observation, there was recorded net mass gain. The mean mass wastage for the 38 glaciers nearly doubled in the period after 2000.
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The losses are not uniform across the region. The Indus Basin, which holds 41% of the total number of glaciers and 44% of the total glacierised area in the HKH, lost 6% of its glacier area between 1990 and 2020. The Ganga and Brahmaputra basins — which account for 13% and 20% of glaciers respectively — experienced steeper reductions of 21% and 16%, despite hosting some of the region’s largest glaciers.
The most immediate danger, according to researchers, comes from the region’s smallest glaciers. Sudan Bikash Maharjan, remote sensing analyst at ICIMOD and lead author of the glacier dynamics report, said glaciers below 0.5 square kilometres are shrinking more rapidly than others — and three-quarters of the region’s glaciers fall into this vulnerable size class. “This poses immediate risks of localised water shortages for high mountain communities and intensifies hazards like glacial lake outburst floods. We are not just losing ice; we are facing a rapid escalation of risks,” he said.
Pema Gyamtsho, director general of ICIMOD, said the data should compel action. “The fact that ice loss rates have doubled this century should shock us all into action. The rapidly escalating impacts — from water uncertainty to catastrophic floods — underscore that we are in a critical decade for the cryosphere. We must scale up monitoring and invest in adaptation now,” he said.
The monitoring record itself dates to June 1974, when the Geological Survey of India conducted the first glacier-wide field measurements on Gara glacier in Himachal Pradesh. Chhota Shigri Glacier in the western Himalaya, which holds the longest mass balance series in the region, has recorded the maximum wastage.
India has acknowledged the urgency at the international level. Minister of state for environment Kirti Vardhan Singh, speaking at a high-level conference on glacier preservation in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, said the retreat of glaciers was “not only a warning but an immediate reality” with consequences for water security, biodiversity, and the livelihoods of billions. He outlined ongoing initiatives on glacial monitoring and climate adaptation, according to an environment ministry statement.