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For mountains and people
Snow is part of the world’s cryosphere, a word that traces its origins to the Greek word kryos, or frost, and is an important part of the climate system.
In the Hindu Kush Himalayas, 18 percent of the total land area – around 0.76 million square kilometres – is covered by snow.
Snow cover helps regulate the temperature of the earth’s surface, and variations in snow cover can affect regional weather patterns. The cooling associated with moist spring soils and a heavy snowpack in Eurasia is believed to shift the arrival of the summer monsoon season and influence its strength and duration.
Snow also sustains glaciers and is a crucial source of water in the region. Annual snowmelt contributes from 10 percent to more than 30 percent of the flow of the 10 major river basins that originate high in the Hindu Kush Himalaya and flow downstream to farmlands and cities. The combination of seasonal snowmelt and glacial melt plays a key role in river hydrology and in daily life downstream.
Featured Publication
This First HKH Assessment Report consists of 16 chapters, which comprehensively assess the current state of knowledge of the HKH region, increase the understanding of various drivers of change and their impacts, address critical data gaps and develop a set of evidence-based and actionable policy solutions and recommendations
News and features
ICIMOD implements SERVIR-HKH in its regional member countries, prioritizing activities in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan.
The HI-RISK initiative of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), under its regional programme on River Basins and Cryosphere, aims to prevent or minimize the occurrence of water-induced disasters and their adverse impacts in the HKH.
