Himalayan Glacier Melt: Fact or Fiction?

There is a big difference between WILL and COULD.

The original reference to the disappearance of Himalayan glaciers was made in an article by Fred Pearce from NewScientist (06/1999): Flooded Out that is causing quite a bit of controversy. Actually, it caused a lot of controversy when it was made and has been used as a foundational piece in recent climate change theory.

The author, Syed Hasnain, chief author of the report from the International Commission on Snow and Ice (ICSI) claims - in the most recent NYTimes article (01/2010): UN Panel's Glacier Warning Is Criticised as Exaggerated - that he was "misquoted".

In more recent articles, he has stated that "his research suggests that only small glaciers could disappear entirely."

So, it seems that the caution remains.

It is not that climate is not changing. It is also not that as the Himalayan glaciers retreat, the negative impact on all of the Asian countries that depend on the snow and ice to replenish increasingly scarce freshwater will only get worse.

The real impact of misstatements is that "the [UN] panel's reports [the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change/IPCC] are the basis for global policy and their conclusions are widely heeded."

The debate will continue about whose information is reliable and how we should act upon the findings.

There is simply too much at stake to get it wrong.