A THIRSTY PLANET

Climate change and falling water tables are having a dramatic effect on the world’s water resources, writes Satu Hassi MEP.

A few years ago, I read an article on mountains. It began by saying that we consider mountains to be something very robust, something that lasts forever, at least in human timescales.

But in fact, mountains belong to some of the most vulnerable ecosystems in the world because mountain glaciers are rapidly melting.

Half the world’s population depends on rivers starting from mountain glaciers as their freshwater source.

Himalayan glaciers feed seven great Asian rivers - the Ganges, Indus, Brahmaputra, Salween, Mekong, Yangtze and Huang He - ensuring a year-round water supply for two billion people.