Requiem for a glacier

A glacier is disappearing in the Himalayas, leaving mounds of debris and a warning too dire to ignore.

Just days before climate leaders, scientists and policymakers gather in Kathmandu for Sagarmatha Sambaad, Nepal’s first global dialogue on climate and environment, a small team of researchers from ICIMOD, the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Kathmandu University and Tribhuvan University made a different kind of journey. They hiked to the base of Yala Glacier, in the Langtang region, to pay tribute to a glacier that has been a living laboratory for generations of scientists. They were joined by members of communities from Langtang and Kyanjin, who stand to lose a part of their natural heritage.