Outlook on climate change adaptation in the Hindu Kush Himalaya

Projected glacial area change by 2050

Reproduced from Shrestha et al. 2015a (cartography: Riccardo Pravettoni). Graphic available at http://www.grida.no/ resources/6690

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Percentage 2007 2020 2030 2040 2050 INDUS

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 2007 2020 2030 2040 2050 GANGES

BRAHMAPUTRA

Glacierized area, 2014 Thousand square kilometres

21

2030 2040 2050 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 2007 2020 2030 2040 2050 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 SALWEEN

0,5

10

1

IPCC scenarios

2007

RCP 4.5 dry, cold RCP 4.5 dry, warm RCP 4.5 wet, cold RCP 4.5 wet, warm RCP 8.5 dry, cold RCP 8.5 dry, warm RCP 8.5 wet, cold RCP 8.5 wet, warm

MEKONG

Notes: RCP 4.5 – Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 is a scenario that stabilizes radiative forcing at 4.5 watts per metre squared in the year 2100 without ever exceeding that value. It includes long-term global emissions of greenhouse gases, short-lived species, and land-use-land-cover in a global economic framework. RCP 8.5 – RCP 8.5 combines assumptions about high population and relatively slow income growth with modest rates of technological change and energy intensity improvements, leading in the long term to high energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions in the absence of climate change policies.

2007 2020 2030 2040 2050

Source: Lutz, AF; Immerzeel, WW (2013) Water availability analysis for the upper Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Salween and Mekong river basins . Report submitted to FutureWater

34