26: Sizing Up the Melting Glaciers of the Himalayas

About this episode

The episode discusses the rapid melting of glaciers in the Himalayas and its implications for water resources and agriculture in the region.

There are an estimated 54,000 glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayas. These glaciers cover 60,000 square kilometers and serve as a major source of the water in the region’s rivers, including as much as 40 percent in the Indus River system - the backbone of agriculture and food production in Pakistan, for example. But in recent decades glaciologists – those who study glaciers – are concerned with how fast Himalayan glaciers are melting, and what that could mean for the more than a billion people...

Topics covered

• glaciers
• Himalayas
• climate change
• water resources
• agriculture
• environment

Keywords

• Himalayas
• glaciers
• melting
• water supply
• Indus River
• agriculture
• climate change

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Hindu Kush Himalayas, Indus River, Pakistan

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