an extract from an article running now on ABC News app
ABC:
"The Earth’s ‘third pole’ is melting
"Western Asia’s Hindu Kush Himalaya region is informally known as the world’s “third pole”.
"Fresh water from its glaciers feeds some of the world’s biggest and most populated river basins, such as the Indus and Ganges rivers.
"Data from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) predicts the region’s glaciers to lose 75 per cent of their volume by 2100.
""We’ve seen a pattern of decreasing amounts and persistence of snow across the Hindu Kush Himalaya, with 13 of the past 22 years registering lower-than-normal seasonal snow persistence,” ICIMOD cryosphere specialist Sher Muhammad said.
"ICIMOD warns of the dire consequences this thaw could have for almost 2 billion people relying on downstream rivers."
