Mass loss from the glaciers along the margins of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets is increasingly contributing to sea level rise. However, ice loss as a result of accelerated flow, known as dynamic thinning, is so poorly understood that its potential future contribution to sea level remains unpredictable.

Himalayas has one of the largest concentrations of glaciers and permanent snow fields. These are sensitive to climate change. Snow and glacier runoffs are important sources of water for the Himalayan rivers. Due to steep slopes, all these streams are potential sites for hydropower generation.

While relatively little is known definitively about the glaciers of the Himalaya and Hindukush, what facts do exist need to be acknowledged as such.

The receding glaciers of the Himalaya offer a critical case study of the region

Rajendra Pachauri heads TERI, The Energy and Resources Institute, based in New Delhi. An engineer of the railways in his early career, Pachauri went to the United States to earn a PhD in industrial engineering and another in economics, after which he returned to India in 1981 to work with TERI.

Climate change has become the defining issue of our time. It is a quintessential global matter, since its effects respect no national or regional boundaries. Climate change is also a challenge that compels a global and collaborative response. We are all literally in the same boat, cast adrift in increasingly tumultuous seas. Unless we pull the oars together we may not make it to shore.