Nepal will host a symbolic funeral next week for the Yala glacier, a once-thriving Himalayan ice mass now in terminal decline due to climate change — an event that scientists say underscores a much broader crisis facing thousands of glaciers globally, according to the Financial Times.
The ceremony, scheduled for Monday, will be attended by Buddhist monks, scientists, community leaders, and government officials. It marks the first glacier funeral in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, which contains the third-largest volume of ice on Earth, after Antarctica and the Arctic.
Similar commemorations have taken place in Iceland, Switzerland, and Mexico, as the world grapples with the accelerating disappearance of glaciers. Scientists warn that more than 1,000 glaciers vanish every year, many unmeasured and unnamed.
Yala, one of the most studied glaciers in the region, has transformed from a pristine “white glacier” to a rock-strewn, stagnant ice field, said Sharad Prasad Joshi, cryosphere analyst at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). He described its condition as “incredibly sad,” raising concerns about the glacier’s potential to disappear entirely by 2040 — though some scientists believe it may already be “dead,” no longer deforming or moving under its own weight.
Glacier melt is a major contributor to rising sea levels and climate feedback loops, as it reduces the Earth’s reflectivity and accelerates warming. It also threatens freshwater supplies, increases flood and drought risks, and has sweeping implications for food, energy, and national security, particularly in South and Central Asia, where over two billion people depend on water from Himalayan snow and ice.
New research shows the world has lost 273 billion tonnes of ice annually on average since 2000 — equivalent to 30 years’ worth of global water use. Depending on emission reduction efforts, scientists estimate the planet will lose 25% to 80% of glacier mass by 2100.
This loss is not only environmental but cultural. Miriam Jackson, a cryosphere scientist involved in Yala monitoring, emphasized that glaciers are vanishing, not merely shrinking. Meanwhile, Cymene Howe, an anthropologist behind Iceland’s first glacier funeral, called the trend “a fundamental loss.”
The ceremony at Yala will include the installation of two granite memorial plaques featuring words from Icelandic writer Andri Snær Magnason and Nepali author Manjushree Thapa. One reads:
“We know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it.”
Despite being a training ground for over 100 young glaciologists from countries like Afghanistan, China, and India, Yala now exemplifies the urgent need for better monitoring: of the 54,000 glaciers across the Hindu Kush Himalaya, fewer than 40 are regularly tracked.
“This is not just about ice,” said James Kirkham, chief science adviser at the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative. “It’s about the future of ecosystems, water security, and entire ways of life.”
