Category: Cryosphere and water

ICIMOD researchers build capacity in landslide science through field visit at iRALL School 2025 in Chengdu, focusing on multi-hazard mountain risks.

Standing above the Yangtze River, eastern China overlooking the Three Gorges Dam and witnessing the sheer scale of this great river sustaining millions of lives, one cannot help but pause and ask: What can a river not endure?

As the world prepares to mark World Water Day 2026 under the theme of “Where Water Flows: Equality […]

The challenge of water management in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) is fundamentally a systems […]

Just a decade ago, it would have been difficult to imagine such a solemn ritual to honour the glacier, to lament the loss of much of its ice. Yet the changes are undeniable. Yala Glacier is disappearing.

In Nepal’s Madhesh Province, widely known as the nation’s ‘Grain Basket’, an unprecedented monsoon failure in July 2025 has led to a severe drought, disrupting rice transplantation and threatening food security. ICIMOD’s Earth Observation analysis reveals over 40% of rice fields under stress, with potential losses of up to 450,000 metric tons, posing a nationwide economic and food crisis.

The Lal Bakaiya River in Nepal’s Madhesh Province is no stranger to floods, as rising riverbeds, degraded Chure hills, and unplanned development turn monsoon rains into prolonged disasters. ICIMOD is strengthening local resilience through Community-Based Early Flood Warning Systems (CBFEWS) and innovative gamification of preparedness training, making life-saving knowledge accessible and engaging for all. Combined with integrated watershed management efforts, these initiatives aim to tackle the region’s ‘Too Much Too Little’ water crisis and break the cycle of recurring floods.

Marmots spend most of the winter hibernating in their burrows, which need to remain dry and insulated from extreme cold and frozen ground. This behaviour suggests several possible relationships between marmots and permafrost.

With wetter and hotter extremes, and looming threat of intensifying disasters, HKH needs impact-based early warning systems

From fishermen risking their lives at sea, to farmers fearing the loss of their land and homes, to entire villages grappling with the long-term economic and psychological toll of recurring disasters – cyclones continue to reshape the daily realities of communities in Bangladesh.

With climate change accelerating, disasters are no longer isolated events across the globe. In the […]

The Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, with its towering peaks and dynamic landscapes, presents both opportunities and challenges for hydropower development.

Mountain air was crisp and piercing, despite the midday sun shining bright above us. As […]

Rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, and dry forests have doubled forest fire incidents in the past decade in Nepal with 2025 projected to be the worst year.

With 261 transboundary river basins covering 45% of the Earth’s land surface, and 19 of […]

Experts from major river basin countries and international organisations discuss a variety of topics including regional cooperation, sustainable water management, and the role of science diplomacy in addressing the interconnected challenges of the HKH region.

In May 2024, ICIMOD brokered a cooperative agreement between at-risk municipalities to setup a basket fund for an early warning system.

The Hailuogou Glacier is located in Luding County of China’s Sichuan Province. The Hailuogou Glacier Forest Park, the only glacier-forest park in China...

Nepali and Bhutanese disaster management officials share knowledge and conduct emergency simulation drill with Pakistani counterparts at first-of-its-kind learning exchange in Islamabad