Skutki topnienia lodowców w Himalajach jako jeden z potencjalnych przyczyn eskalacji konfliktu indyjsko-pakistańskiego
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: In the South Asian region, which is inhabited by over 1.8 billion people, water is one of the most valuable, but also the most valuable resources.More than 60% of the region's inhabitants use water from river basins fed by Himalayan glaciers 1 .Climate change affects not only the volume of glaciers, but also the rate of their melting, which directly translates into the dynamics of the water situation, and thus indirectly also into relations between India and Pakistan.According to a study published by Science Advances, from 2000 to 2016, Himalayan glaciers lost an average of 8 billion tons of ice annually 2 .This rate is twice as high as in the second decade of the 80s of the twentieth century.The total mass of glaciers in the Himalayan region has decreased by about 25% since 1975, and if the trend continues, the Himalayas could lose up to 66% of their ice cover by the end of the 21st century 3 .According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), in the hydrological year 2024, global glacier mass loss was 450 billion tons, which is the fourth worst result in the history of measurements 4 .Glaciers in South Asia, including the Himalayas, were particularly affected.In addition, new research indicates that so-called black carbon from dust storms in northern Indian regions significantly accelerates the melting of snow and ice in the Himalayas 5 .The so-called albedo 1 FAO.AQUASTAT Database: South Asia Water Resources, 2020.
Author: Głogowski, Aleksander
Institution: Jagiellonian University
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7110526514