For billions of people, mountain meltwater is essential for drinking water and sanitation, food and energy security, and the integrity of the environment. But today, as the world warms, glaciers are melting faster than ever, making the water cycle more unpredictable and extreme.

The HKH Snow Update 2025 highlights a significant decline in seasonal snow across the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, with snow persistence 23.6% below normal — the lowest in 23 years. This trend, now in its third consecutive year, threatens water security for nearly two billion people.

This brief examines solutions on the Adaptation at Altitude Solutions Portal that have been implemented either across borders or in multiple countries with shared borders. These transboundary solutions were then categorised according to the type of risk that they primarily address: hazards, risks to shared resources, ecosystem risks.

This book contains 11 chapters covering various essential aspects of spring-shed management like database assessment, standard definitions and classifications, mapping methodologies, discharge measurement techniques, holistic management strategies, water quality protocols, environmental isotopes' use, tailored guidelines, discharge indexes, proj

Mountains are home to a variety of ecosystems that provide vital services directly to 1.1 billion people and billions of others living in connected lowland areas. Half of humanity depends on mountains for the provision of freshwater alone.

The State of the Cryosphere 2023 – Two Degrees is Too High report shows that all of the Earth’s frozen parts will experience irreversible damage at 2°C of global warming, with disastrous consequences for millions of people, societies, and nature.

While mountain tourism has become an increasingly relevant motivation for travel, data on its size and impact remains scarce, a new report from the UN agencies the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Mountain Partnership (MP) makes clear.

This nexus brief synthesizes the findings of recent publications on mountains and climate change, in particular IPCC Cross-Chapter Paper 5: Mountains (2022) and the OECD Development Co-operation Working Paper: Strengthening climate resilience in mountainous areas (2021).