Bapon Fakhruddin, CODATA TG-FAIR DRR and Shaily Gandhi, IT:U Interdisciplinary Transformation University Austria
On March 3, 2026, the FAIR Data for Disaster Risk Research working group of CODATA convened a webinar titled “Glacier Adaptation and Financing,” bringing together leading experts to address the accelerating retreat of glaciers, the implications for water security and disaster risk, and the persistent gap in climate finance. Moderated by Dr. Shaily Gandhi, the panel featured Dr. Anil Mishra (UNESCO), Dr. Miriam Jackson (Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate), Dr. Dhiraj Pradhananga (Tribhuvan University, Nepal), and Dr. Bapon Fakhruddin (Green Climate Fund). The discussion emphasized the urgency of translating scientific knowledge into institutional action and financial investment.
Follow these links to consult the slides presented and the the webinar recording.
Accelerating glacier loss and its implications
Recent assessments underscore the rapid pace of glacier melt. The Glacier Mass Balance Intercomparison Exercise (GlaMBIE) team (2025) reported that between 2000 and 2023, glaciers globally lost an average of 273 ± 16 gigatonnes of ice annually, with a 36% acceleration in the latter half of the period. This cumulative loss of 6,542 gigatonnes contributed approximately 18 millimeters to global sea-level rise. Projections by Rounce et al. (2023) suggest that even under a 1.5°C warming scenario, global glacier mass could decline by 26 ± 6% by 2100, increasing to 41 ± 11% under a 4°C scenario.
In the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region, these global trends are mirrored by local observations. Dr. Pradhananga highlighted that snowpacks are thinning, springs are drying, and rainfall is increasingly replacing snowfall. These changes threaten the freshwater supply for billions of people who depend on glacier-fed river systems.
Glacial lake outburst floods: a growing hazard
Glacier retreat contributes to the formation of unstable glacial lakes, increasing the risk of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). A study published in Nature Communications estimated that 15 million people globally live under threat from GLOFs, with more than half residing in India, Pakistan, Peru, and China (Carrivick et al., 2023). The 2023 South Lhonak Lake disaster in Sikkim, India, exemplified this risk. A cloudburst triggered a GLOF that destroyed infrastructure and resulted in at least 14 fatalities and over 100 missing persons (NDTV, 2023). Although the lake had been previously identified as high-risk (Sattar et al., 2021), early warning systems were not fully operational at the time of the event. This incident illustrates the critical need for governance systems that can act on scientific data.
Read the full blog here: https://codata.org/blog/2026/03/11/bridging-the-glacier-finance-gap-in-the-decade-of-cryospheric-sciences/