KATHMANDU — Glaciers in the Himalayas have shrunk by as much as
a fifth in just 30 years, scientists have claimed in the first
authoritative confirmation of the effects of climate change on
the region. The findings, published in three reports by the
Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain
Development (ICIMOD), show Nepal's glaciers have shrunk by 21
percent and Bhutan's by 22 percent over 30 years. The reports,
launched on Sunday at the UN climate talks in Durban, South
Africa, form the most comprehensive ever assessment of the
extent of Himalayan ice melting. They follow a discredited
announcement by scientists in 2007 that the region's glaciers
would be gone by 2035. A three-year Sweden-funded research
project led by ICIMOD showed 10 glaciers surveyed in the region
all are shrinking, with a marked acceleration in loss of ice
between 2002 and 2005. Another study found a significant
reduction in snow cover across the region in the last decade.
"These reports provide a new baseline and loc