The Yala glacier is shrinking and will disappear completely by 2040

Kathmandu. Yala glacier is shrinking. It is said that by the 2040s, it may disappear completely. It is the only glacier in the entire Himalayas included in the Global Glacier Casualty List.
The Global Glacier Causal List is a project launched in 2024 by Rice University, University of Iceland, World Meteorological Organization (WMO), World Glacier Monitoring Service and UNESCO.
Since the monitoring began, both the area and volume of the glacier have decreased significantly. Between 1874 and 2021, it had shrunk by 680 meters.
The area where the glacier has spread has also shrunk by 36 percent. If the current rate of shrinkage continues, it is said that it may completely disappear by the 2040s. Sharad Joshi, a researcher at ICMOD, said that since there is a significant change in the area and volume of the glacier, there is no point in keeping it in the list.
It was one of the few glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayas. In 2023, the Yala Glacier lost its largest area and volume since records began five decades ago. WMO and UNESCO scientists have said that this is the second consecutive year that this has happened.
Nira Pradhan of ICMOD has said that the Hindu Kush Himalayan region is heating up at twice the speed at which the world temperature is rising. A total of 15 glaciers are listed in the Global Glacier Causal List. Pradhan cited France’s Sarenne and Venezuela’s Pico Humboldt as examples of glaciers on the list that have recently disappeared.
Nepal’s Yala Glacier is also on the critically endangered list, she said. China’s Dagu Glacier is also on the critically endangered list. It is estimated that this glacier could disappear by 2030.