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From the Mountains and Glaciers Down to the Rivers to the Estuaries and Oceans: Another Sad Tale of 18 or so Rivers

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Hindu Kush-Himalaya Watersheds Downhill: Landscape Ecology and Conservation Perspectives

Abstract

Watersheds of the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region (HKH) feed by now easily over 2 billion people. They contribute greatly to the world’s GDP and affect world peace. As judged by 18 selected major rivers in the HKH region [Mekong, Ganges, Irrawaddy river (Ayeyarwady), Yellow River, Heilongyang/Amur, Yangtze river, Indus, Onon river, Tarim river, Gandaki river, Koshi river, Yarlung-Tsangpo river, Yamuna river (Jumna), Padma river, Brahmaputra river, Jhelum river, Illi river and Amu Darya river (Amo or Oxus)], the current situation of those watersheds is in a generic change and decay. There is virtually no good future outlook for those wild rivers while globalization and its development remains ongoing, widely unabated, and with climate change on the rise.

Everybody Lives Upstream

(ICIMOD 2018)

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Notes

  1. 1.

    It is difficult to not agree here with Ripple et al. (2017)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. -EWHALE lab- Institute of Arctic Biology, Biology & Wildlife Department, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA

    Falk Huettmann

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  1. Falk Huettmann
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Correspondence to Falk Huettmann .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Third Pole Conservancy, Kathmandu, Nepal

    Ganga Ram Regmi

  2. -EWHALE Lab- Institute of Arctic Biology, Biology & Wildlife Department, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA

    Falk Huettmann

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Huettmann, F. (2020). From the Mountains and Glaciers Down to the Rivers to the Estuaries and Oceans: Another Sad Tale of 18 or so Rivers. In: Regmi, G., Huettmann, F. (eds) Hindu Kush-Himalaya Watersheds Downhill: Landscape Ecology and Conservation Perspectives. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36275-1_3

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