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Polar and Mountain Environments Climate Change Adaptation in the Himalayas In 2015, GRID-Arendal continued its successful collaboration with ICIMOD and CICERO in the Himalayan Climate Change Adaptation (HICAP) programme. Highlights included the production and launch of the Himalayan Climate and Water Atlas: Impact of Climate Change on Water Resources in Five of Asia’s Major River Basins . The report received significant media attention in the region – including in national daily newspapers in India, Pakistan and Nepal – following itsThe polar and high mountain regions of the world play an important role in the Earth’s climate system,
including helping to regulate global temperatures, drive ocean circulation, and store water in the form
of glaciers and ice sheets. In many ways, these regions are the planet’s barometer, telling us a great deal
about the present and future effects of climate change. In 2015, GRID-Arendal worked to draw attention
to some of the most critical environmental and climatic challenges facing these regions, providing
policy makers with the latest scientific evidence on climate change and options for adaptation.
launch at a side event during the Paris climate change
negotiations. GRID-Arendal and ICIMOD also continued
their communication collaboration to complete a series
of short video films on climate change and adaptation in
the region.
The Water Atlas will be reviewed in an international,
peer reviewed journal called Mountain Research and
Development published by the International Mountain
Society in Switzerland.
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INDUS
GANGES`
MEKONG
BRAHMA-
PUTRA
SALWEEN
I
NDIA
C
HINA
C
HINA
P
AKISTAN
B
ANGLADESH
M
YANMAR
B
HUTAN
A
FGHANISTAN
N
EPAL
RCP 4.5
Reference (1998–2007)
RCP 8.5
Glacier melt
Snow melt
Rainfall runoff
Baseflow
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900
1 200
1 500
Annual runoff and projections
Millimetres per year
RCP 4.5
RCP 8.5
0
3
2
1
Temperature increase
Degrees (C)
Precipitation increase
Percentage
RCP 4.5
RCP 8.5
0
20
15
10
5
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20
15
10
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15
10
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The future of climate and water in the HKH region
Projections for selected HKH river basins, 2041–2050
Source: Lutz,AF et al. (2014) ‘Consistent increase inHighAsia’s runoffdue to increasingglaciermelt andprecipitation.’
NatureClimateChange
4: 587–592
Notes:
RCP 4.5 ensemblemeans –RepresentativeConcentrationPathway (RCP) 4.5 is a
scenario that stabilizes radiative forcing at 4.5wattspermetre squared in the year 2100
without ever exceeding that value. It includes long-termglobal emissionsofgreenhouse
gases, short-lived species, and land-use-land-cover in aglobal economic framework.
RCP 8.5 ensemblemeans –RCP 8.5 combines assumptions abouthighpopulation and
relatively slow incomegrowthwithmodest ratesof technological change and energy
intensity improvements, leading in the long term tohigh energydemand and
greenhousegas emissions in the absenceof climate changepolicies.
Graphic from the Himalayan
Climate and Water Atlas.
Credit:GRID-Arendal/Riccardo
Pravettoni