Comprehensive assessment on climate change to be presented at Mountain Day

Dec 3 2011

Mountain Day: Sunday, Dec. 4, Breakers Resort, Durban

Scientists from the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and eight Asian countries that make up the Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) region will present the most comprehensive assessment to date on climate change and the first authoritative accounting of snow cover and glacier extent in Asia's mountainous HKH region on Sunday, 4 December at Mountain Day on the sidelines of COP17 in Durban.

Home to Mount Everest and referred to by many scientists as the 'Third Pole', the HKH region is home to 30 percent of the world's glaciers. Land and water resources from these high peaks are critical to the livelihoods of over a billion people living in the mountains and in downstream areas across Asia's major river basins. Until now, there have been scant data on the status of snow and glacier extent in the region.

Findings from the report Climate Change in the Hindu Kush-Himalayas and other new research from Asian, European, Andean and other mountain regions will be presented at Mountain Day, which will bring together mountain experts, policy makers, and climate change negotiators.

WHAT:Mountain Day @COP-17