The Himalayans could lose at least a third of its glaciers by the century’s end even if most of the world’s climate change targets are reached, according to a report released on Monday.
If those targets aren’t reached, the Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment found that the region could lose even more, up to two-thirds of its glaciers by 2100 due to rising temperatures in the region.
{mosads}The report also assessed that the region could suffer a temperature increase by up to 8 degrees Fahrenheit if leading climate change targets aren’t met.
“This is a climate crisis you have not heard of,” Philippus Wester, one of the study’s lead authors, told The New York Times on Monday.
“Impacts on people in the region, already one of the world’s most fragile and hazard-prone mountain regions, will range from worsened air pollution to an increase in extreme weather events,” he continued.
In October, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned in a report that the world needs to decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent by 2030 or else the atmosphere could reach 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit by 2040.
The panel said in the report that the world would have to transform its economy at a scale that has “no documented historic precedent” to avoid further damage.
The assessment found that the Himalayans could suffer an increase of as much as 3.8 degrees Fahrenheit by 2040 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at its current rate.
According to The Times, the Himalayans is already feeling the impact of rising temperatures. Water shortages in the city of Shimla were reportedly so severe in the region last year that some residents had begun asking tourists not to come so they would have more water for their families.
The report is reportedly one of the world’s most complete reports on mountain warming, according to The Times.
The report was conducted over the course of five years by 210 authors and includes input from over 350 researchers and lawmakers from 22 countries.