This week, I'm in Kathmandu for a workshop on climate change — our plane had to duck under heavy monsoon laden clouds and just about managed to land on a cracked runway. The monsoon has arrived late and it is already creating havoc with flooding and land-sliding (after a summer in which crops failed due to drought).

The Nepali people are reeling from the impacts of climate change and there is more to come. Scientists from ICIMOD (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development) based here in Kathmandu are warning that the rates of warming in the Hindu-Kush-Himalayan region are significantly higher than the global average.

One of the most visible impacts of climate change in this region is the retreat of glaciers. The Hindu-Kush and Himalayan mountain ranges along with the Karakorams and Pamir Mountains are called the third pole for the large quantity of snow and ice they contain. Now it appears that many of these glaciers, at least the ones located at lower altitudes (below 5000m) are melting faster than anywhere else in the world.

The continued melting of these glaciers could have a profound effect on the water in the ten large river basins originating in this mountain region — namely the Yangtze, the Brahmaputra, the Ganges, the Mekong and the Indus.

At the workshop organised by Internews' Earth Journalism Network, the Department for International Development and an NGO called ChinaDialogue, we learnt that the threat to the people and livelihoods of this region is unprecedented. We in Pakistan should be alarmed as well because up to 50% of the water in the Indus River (our major source of water) comes from glacial melt! Those who have been writing about expanding glaciers in the Karakoram Mountains need to present the picture more clearly because there is just not enough scientific data in Pakistan to prove that the majority of our glaciers (including the ones in the Karakorams) are safe from rising temperatures. According to the Director General of ICIMOD, “A few years ago, 25% of the glaciers were growing in the Tibetan Plateau. Today only 5% are growing — the rest are all receding dramatically”.

Up in the high mountains of Nepal, the local villagers now have to face a new threat called Glacial Lake Outburst Floods or GLOF. Large glacial lakes are being formed by the rapid retreat of glaciers. Since the moraine and ice damming the lakes are comparatively weak, they can breach suddenly, leading to a discharge of huge volumes of water and debris. The flooding downstream can sweep away homes and fields, and destroy bridges and roads. This has already happened in some parts of Hunza and Chitral in Pakistan. The land cannot be used again since huge boulders cover the area. Scientists say there are 52 dangerous glacial lakes in Pakistan, which need to be monitored.

Although it is expensive, early warning systems should be installed in lakes close to settlements.

So what else can we do? Well, our policy makers need to wake up and go to the UN's Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December determined to play a part in the climate change rescue plan. Bangladesh, which faces massive floods from melting snowcaps and glaciers in the high mountains, is already very vocal as are the small island states which are facing annihilation from sea levels rising due to climate change. Pakistan should join in with the rest of this region — Nepal, India, Bhutan, Bangladesh and even China to raise a united voice and highlight the dangers threatening the mountain ranges. After all, 1.3 billion people are dependent on these 'water towers' of South Asia.

In fact, these countries need not wait for Copenhagen but start doing all they can to curb air pollution in their cities and towns for scientists say that the 'Asian Brown Cloud' (which contains black carbon from diesel and coal and 'chullas' and aerosols from industries) is blowing onto the high mountains and contributing to temperature rise. In Lhasa, the capital of the Tibetan Plateau, people are using mosquito nets, which was unheard of at this altitude. “We have to seriously look at this as a regional issue” says Indian glaciologist Syed Iqbal Husnain. “We have to reduce the black carbon... glaciers in the third pole are melting twice as fast as we expected!”