As its glaciers melt, Nepal is forced into an adaptation not of its choosing

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• canceled reservations

• threatening fragile ecosystems, vulnerable communities, and billions of people downstream who rely on the rivers fed by the ice pack.

• by 2100, the Himalayan region could lose up to two-thirds of its glaciers, a study shows.

• farming communities, this means water shortages, less feed for their livestock, and increased risks of natural disasters such as landslides and glacial lake flash floods.

• heating up at rates up to 0.7°C (1.3°F) higher than the global average, and poor communities are already feeling the impacts.

• But with warming temperatures, the amount of water and fresh grass available for the animals has diminished rapidly. From a herd of 40 yaks, Chhireng Tamang now has just nine.

• which depend on intact glacier ecosystems for their energy, clean air, and livelihoods.

• severe freshwater shortages

• The Himalayas are, at present, heating up at rates up to 0.7°C (1.3°F) higher than the global average

• affect current livelihoods centered around tourism and traditional agricultural practices

• Many people in the area have already given up farming and grazing, and now work in tourism

• Air pollution from India’s densely populated Indo-Gangetic Plains, one of the most polluted regions in the world, is speeding up the melting: the deposits of black carbon and dust trap solar radiation that would otherwise be reflected out by the white ice.

• along their edges, they build up walls of rock debris known as moraine.

• When the glaciers melt and form lakes, these moraine dams are all that hold the water back.