Climate change at the top of the world imperils Asia’s water supplyPhotographs by Bharat Sikka for TIME
Roof of the World
Melting snow from the Himalayas feeds the mightiest river system in the world: the Ganges, the Indus, the Brahmaputra, the Mekong, the Yellow and the Yangtze Rivers, a water system that provides material and spiritual sustenance to 3 billion people.Bharat Sikka for TIME
High Desert
Portions of the range, like the area around Leh, India are receiving less precipitation than they did a quarter-century ago and temperatures have risen, virtually leaving the melting glaciers as the town's sole source of water.Bharat Sikka for TIME
Delivery
A Leh man carries water to customers.Bharat Sikka for TIME
Hot and Cold
The snow on the left incline has not melted because it is sheltered by shadows.Bharat Sikka for TIME
Leh
Temperatures in the craggy mountain town, situated at 11,500 feet, have risen by 1° C, and snowfall has generally declined over the last 25 years.Bharat Sikka for TIME
Glaciologist
A senior fellow at the Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi, Syed Iqbal Hasnain has joined with teams from the Scripps Institute and NASA to track changes in the range's glaciers.Bharat Sikka for TIME
Melt Off
Water flows from glaciers early in November. "This isn't like the polar ice caps," says Shubash Lohani, an officer with the Nepal branch of the World Wildlife Fund, "You have a huge population downstream from the Himalayas who are dependant on it."Bharat Sikka for TIME
Visionary
Leh engineer Cheweng Norphel, 74, builds artificial glaciers, stone cisterns that can gather and store meltwater. Because he keeps them in the shade, and because they're small — less than 30,000 square feet — the water stays frozen and can then be tapped in the spring to irrigate the villages that surround the town.Bharat Sikka for TIME
Parched
In the Himalayas, warming has happened faster than elsewhere on the planet. "We must have a global policy to reverse this trend," says Madhav Kumar Nepal, the Prime Minister of Nepal. "This question is one of survival."Bharat Sikka for TIME
