Our world’s freshwater supply is in grave danger according to a recent study by 32 scientists published in Nature. They looked at the Water Tower Index, which ranks all-natural water towers from the highest mountain ranges around the world.
With each tower, the team assessed the areas downstream dependence of ecosystems and society. They looked at water stress, socio-economic changes, the future climates, and hydro political tension. These towers supply substantial numbers of people from all over the world.
In their findings, they’ve concluded that a quarter of the world’s population is at risk. Approximately, 1.6 billion people in the mountain ranges and another 0.3 billion people could be affected downstream, putting the total amount of people at risk at 1.9 billion. Glaciers and snow levels are diminishing in higher elevations around the world, as a direct result by rising global temperatures.
They have deemed the Indus as the most important and most vulnerable water tower. This area of mountain ranges includes the Karakoram, Hindu Kush, Ladakh, and Himalayan mountains. These flow downstream to the densely populated areas of Pakistan, India, China, and Afghanistan. The people here rely heavily on this water supply for the irrigation of crops.
With the expected increase in population along with rising global temperatures, the scientists concluded that the planet cannot sustain this pace. They deem that immediate action is required to try to stop the temperature from increasing to the projected 1.9°C.
Bethan Davies, of Royal Holloway University, an author on the study, comments: “It’s not just happening far away in the Himalayas but in Europe and the United States, places not usually thought to be reliant on mountains for people or the economy.”
The rising global temperatures are affecting these higher elevations more quickly, causing the glaciers and snow melts to disappear.
“Climate change threatens the entire mountain ecosystem,” the report concludes. “Immediate action is required to safeguard the future of the world’s most important and vulnerable water towers.”
The scientists said the best way to help this situation is for us to reduce carbon emissions. If we can keep global warming within 1.5°C, we would be able to retain 75% of mountain snow. Should we fail to do this and continue to destroy the planet, they predict 80% would be lost by 2100.
