Scientists from around the world have assessed the planet’s 78 mountain glacier-based water systems and, for the first time, ranked them in order of their importance to adjacent lowland communities while assessing their vulnerability to future environmental and socioenvironmental changes. This new discovery came from the AGU 2019 Fall Meeting Press Conference: The importance and vulnerability of the world’s water towers held in San Francisco on December 9 (local time). His and colleagues' work was being published simultaneous in the journal Nature.

Among 78 ranked water systems, Asian water towers, also known as the Third Pole region, are ranked the most important and most threatened water towers. They are one of the key regions that pop up in the research team’s analysis, said Prof. Walter Immerzeel of Utrecht University during the press conference. Looking closely, 3 of the top 5 are located in the region, namely, the Indus, Amu Darya and Tarim Basin. With great areas of irrigation downstream and the largest number of glaciers outside the polar regions, Asian water towers play an indispensable role in sustaining the downstream communities via water melt. Therefore, the changes in Asian water towers could have strong impacts on the socioeconomic conditions downstream.

This message is echoed by Prof. YAO Tandong, co-author of the research and co-chair of TPE that supported this research. "By 2060 to 2070, rising temperatures due to climate change could lead to ever-stronger glacial retreat in the region. In other words, the melting glaciers in Asian water towers could reduce the water supply for people living downstream in coming decades." said Prof. YAO.