The United Nations’ World Day for Glaciers high level summit in New York—part of the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation—highlighted a glaring oversight: no representatives from the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region were invited to speak. The HKH’s glaciers sustain over two billion people across 16 countries, yet the event, co-hosted by UNESCO and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), ignored the region completely.

The UN’s “Glacier Preservation” framing is misleading. Glaciers cannot be preserved in a warming world. 70% of global freshwater is stored in glaciers, but 2023 saw the largest mass loss in five decades. By 2050, one-third of all glaciers could vanish, and by 2100, up to 80% of the HKH’s ice may disappear under current emissions forecasts. These glaciers feed rivers like the Ganges, Indus, and Brahmaputra, supporting agriculture, hydropower, and providing drinking water for 250 million people directly and 1.65 billion downstream.

The silence on the HKH’s cryosphere crisis—marked by rising glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) and water scarcity—raises questions. Is it because the region’s challenges don’t fit the event’s glossy theme? Or is it ‘climate colonialism’, where global elites debate solutions for excluded regions? The UN’s ‘water towers’ narrative rings hollows as the HKH’s towers crumble faster than ever. Studies warn that even limiting warming to 1.5°C won’t save 30% of its ice.

The New York agenda sidestepped the HKH’s urgent need for transboundary cooperation, adaptation funding, and community-led resilience—critical to mitigating impacts on downstream nations like India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

In October 2023, UN Secretary-General António Guterres visited Nepal’s Everest and Annapurna Base Camps, witnessing firsthand the catastrophic impacts of climate change. He warned that glaciers were melting “very quickly,” yet the UN’s 2025 summit ignored the HKH’s crisis, despite his earlier warnings.

The HKH’s glaciers are geopolitical flashpoints. Ten major river systems fuel water-induced conflicts between nations like India, Pakistan, China, and Bangladesh. The Indus Waters Treaty has stalled projects like the Kishanganga Dam, while China’s upstream Brahmaputra hydropower projects threaten downstream flows. The region hosts some of the world’s largest armies, with India and Pakistan maintaining heavy military presence in Kashmir, where glacial melt intensifies flash floods and resource competition.

By 2050, river basins like the Indus and Ganges-Brahmaputra will see 14–24% declines in water recharge due to warming, intensifying competition for dwindling resources. The UN must move beyond symbolic gestures and establisha specialized center focused on the HKH and other critical regions to bridge gaps in data, policy, and action. Such a center would centralize research, coordinate adaptation, and advocate for funding to prioritize climate justice.

Without this focus, the UN’s glacier initiatives risks becoming empty promises. The HKH’s cryosphere crisis isn’t a distant threat—it is a ticking timebomb.

Pranav Rajouria is a strategy consultant at Frost & Sullivan. This article is his personal opinion and does not reflect Frost & Sullivan’s perspective.