Glaciers of the Himalayas: Climate Change, Black Carbon, and Regional Resilience

doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-0099-3

Publication:
Glaciers of the Himalayas: Climate Change, Black Carbon, and Regional Resilience

dc.contributor.author	Mani, Muthukumara
dc.contributor.editor	Mani, Muthukumara
dc.date.accessioned	2021-05-19T15:28:36Z
dc.date.available	2021-05-19T15:28:36Z
dc.date.issued	2021-06-03
dc.description.abstract	Melting glaciers and the loss of seasonal snow pose significant risks to the stability of water resources in South Asia. The 55,000 glaciers in the Himalaya, Karakoram, and Hindu Kush (HKHK) mountain ranges store more freshwater than any region outside of the North and South Poles. Their ice reserves feed into three major river basins in South Asia—the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra—that are home to 750 million people. One major regional driver of the accelerating glacier melt is climate change, which is altering the patterns of temperature and precipitation. A second driver may be deposits of anthropogenic black carbon (BC), which increase the glaciers’ absorption of solar radiation and raise air temperatures. BC is generated by human activity both inside and outside of South Asia, and it may be meaningfully reduced by policy actions taken by the South Asian countries themselves. Glaciers of the Himalayas: Climate Change, Black Carbon, and Regional Resilience investigates the extent to which the BC reduction policies of South Asian countries may affect glacier formation and melt within the context of a changing global climate. It assesses the relative impact of each source of black carbon on snow and glacier dynamics. The authors simulate how BC emissions interact with projected climate scenarios, estimate the extent to which these glacial processes affect water resources in downstream areas of these river basins, and present scenarios until 2040.	en
dc.identifier	https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/976841622778070962/glaciers-of-the-himalayas-climate-change-black-carbon-and-regional-resilience
dc.identifier.doi	10.1596/978-1-4648-0099-3
dc.identifier.isbn	978-1-4648-0099-3
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10986/35600
dc.publisher	Washington, DC: World Bank
dc.relation.ispartofseries	South Asia Development Forum;
dc.rights	CC BY 3.0 IGO
dc.rights.holder	World Bank
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo
dc.subject	GLACIER
dc.subject	CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT
dc.subject	SNOW MELT
dc.subject	BLACK CARBON
dc.subject	WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
dc.subject	GANGES BASIN
dc.subject	GLACIER MELT
dc.subject	RIVER BASIN DEVELOPMENT
dc.subject	BRAHMAPUTRA BASIN
dc.title	Glaciers of the Himalayas	en
dc.title.subtitle	Climate Change, Black Carbon, and Regional Resilience	en
dc.type	Book	en
dc.type	Livre	fr
dc.type	Libro	es
dspace.entity.type	Publication
okr.date.disclosure	2021-06-03
okr.guid	976841622778070962
okr.identifier.doi	10.1596/978-1-4648-0099-3
okr.identifier.report	160004
okr.language.supported	en
okr.region.administrative	South Asia
okr.region.country	Bangladesh
okr.region.country	India
okr.region.country	Pakistan
okr.region.geographical	South Asia
okr.topic	Environment::Climate Change Impacts
okr.topic	Environment::Climate Change and Environment
okr.topic	Environment::Environmental Economics & Policies
okr.topic	Environment::Water Resources Management
okr.topic	Water Resources::River Basin Management
okr.unit	SARCE Office of the Chief Economist, South Asia Region