Work

Climate Change Will Affect the Asian Water Towers

Year: 2010

Type: article

Abstract: More than 1.4 billion people depend on water from the Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Yangtze, and Yellow rivers. Upstream snow and ice reserves of these basins, important in sustaining seasonal water availability, are likely to be affected substantially by climate change, but to what extent is yet unclear. Here, we show that meltwater is extremely important in the Indus basin and important for the Brahmaputra basin, but plays only a modest role for the Ganges, Yangtze, and Yellow rivers. A huge difference also exists between basins in the extent to which climate change is predicted to affect water availability and food security. The Brahmaputra and Indus basins are most susceptible to reductions of flow, threatening the food security of an estimated 60 million people.

Source: Science

DOI: 10.1126/science.1183188

Authors: Walter W. Immerzeel, Ludovicus P. H. van Beek, Marc F. P. Bierkens

Institutions: Utrecht University, Deltares

Language: English

Topic: Cryospheric studies and observations

Subfield: Atmospheric Science

Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Climate action, Clean water and sanitation

Open Access status: green

Funders: European Space Agency, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Inyuvesi Yakwazulu-Natali