The high mountains of Asia, often called ‘the Third Pole’, store large volumes of water in their glaciers and snowpacks. Twelve large river basins, fed with meltwater from these mountains, are home to almost 2 billion people. In their floodplains, a significant fraction of the global food is produced (34% and 23% of the global rice and wheat production respectively). This makes the ‘Third Pole’ a very important region globally in terms of water reserves on which both water- and food security for a huge population heavily depend.
The water supply from the Third Pole mountains faces many threats. Glaciers and snowpacks are melting at unprecedented rates, and large parts of these reservoirs are likely to disappear by the end of the 21st century. The dependence of downstream populations on mountain water resources is however increasing, mainly due to increasing water needs, continuing groundwater depletion and changes in (monsoon) precipitation.
In this presentation we will show how some of the intensive agricultural systems in Asian river basins depend on the stable and reliable flow of meltwater in specific seasons, when precipitation is absent. We will show how we quantify the links between the water stored in the High Mountains of Asia and the water- and food security of the people living downstream, evaluate how those links will change in the future, and use this understanding to support adaptation design. More in general, this presentation emphasizes the need for a more integrated, holistic approach to assess the impact of changes in the mountains on downstream water users.