A@A Knowledge Network: enhancing resilience from glaciers to seas

Summary

The International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation launched on 21 January 2025, and the Adaptation at Altitude (A@A) Knowledge Network held an official side event on 21 January. The event was hosted online by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) under the Adaptation at Altitude programme, supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The event gathered 46 participants all working on or with an interest in mountain environments.

The A@A Knowledge Network meeting was opened by Rosie Witton (SEI) and Alex Mackey (ZOI Environment Network) who provided a brief introduction to the A@A Knowledge Network and an overview of the meeting agenda, before introducing the panellists:

• Dr. Weicai Wang, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research – “Glacial lack outburst floods (GLOFs) risk reduction efforts in the Tibetan Plateau”
• Ms. Divya Mohan, Team Leader for Strengthening Climate Change Adaptation in Himalayas (SCA-Himalayas). Swiss Cooperation Office India. – “Strengthening Disaster Risk Management – an example from the Indian Himalayas”
• Dr. Randy Muñoz, University of Zurich – “Glacial lake outburst flood management, lessons from Lake 513, Peru”

The panel of experts provided opening remarks before participating in a panel discussion and audience Q&A.

Background

Mountains cover one quarter of the Earth’s land surface and host more than 1 billion people, along with 25% of terrestrial biodiversity and 60% of the world’s biosphere reserves. Mountains also provide freshwater to more than half of the global population, as well as essential ecosystem services.

Mountains feature some of the clearest indications of climate change, disrupting water flows and affecting ecosystems, creating and worsening natural hazards and threatening livelihoods and communities both within the mountains and downstream. With temperatures continuing to rise, the world’s glaciers are diminishing at an alarming rate. This not only brings enhanced risks, such as glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) – which expose approximately 15 million people globally – but also threatens the availability of water resources that sustain agriculture, energy, and drinking water for billions of people downstream.  

The United Nations declared 2025 as the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation, with an official launch on the 21 January, accompanied by the proclamation of the 21 March of each year as the World Day for Glaciers starting in 2025.

Presentations

The session opened with an introductory presentation to the A@A programme, A@A Knowledge Network, and how the A@A programme is getting involved with the International Year of Glacier Preservation.

Adaptation at Altitude and the International Year of Glacier Preservation

• Call for glacier-related solutions on the Adaptation at Altitude Solutions Portal
• Showcasing Glacial Lake Outburst Flood solutions through media campaigns and side events
• MRI is co-chairing the IYGP, providing insights to WMO and UNESCO
• UNEP, in collaboration with MRI, is currently planning a Regional Adaptation Dialogue in the South Caucasus titled “Snow and Ice in the Caucasus Mountains: Adapting to a Critical Resource in Decline,” to be held in 19-23 May, 2025

Glacial lack outburst floods (GLOFs) risk reduction efforts in the Tibetan Plateau

Dr. Weicai Wang is a research scientist at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research mainly focuses on glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), including mapping and inventory of GLOFs using remote sensing images, in-situ observations and modelling, GLOF risk assessments, glacial lake monitoring and early warning systems in the Tibetan Plateau. Dr. Wang has also coordinated TPE (Third Pole Environment) and STEP (The Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research) programmes and from 2020 he has acted as vice executive secretary of China Society on Tibetan Plateau.

Dr. Weicai Wang presented the background of the Tibetan Plateau, the Asian Water Tower and how more than 2 billion people from more than 10 countries depend on fresh water from this region. But climate warming has induced an imbalance of the Asian Water Tower which has led to serious consequences including river discharge increasing, glacier melting etc. The glacier melt in this region has increased and consequently one of the emerging risks is GLOFs which can lead to devastating impacts. GLOFs have led to transboundary and downstream impacts and so there are GLOF risk reduction efforts being looked at under the support of the TPE (Third Pole Environment) and STEP (The Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research).

In 2022, 5894 glacial lakes were mapped and information has been compiled on historical GLOFs. Since 1980 93 GLOFs have been reported in this region. A85 of the lakes assessed were identified as posing a high risk of GLOFs and approximately 190,000 lives are threatened by the potential GLOFs. Early warning systems represent a promising tool for adapting and mitigating GLOF risk and early warning systems and monitoring systems are being installed in some locations including for the Cirenmaco lakes and region.

Strengthening Disaster Risk Management – an example from the Indian Himalayas

Ms. Divya Mohan is the Team Leader for the Strengthening Climate Change Adaptation in the Himalayas (SCA-Himalaya) Project of SDC. She is managing the implementation of this project focused on DRR and Water resources management in the Indian Himalayan Region. Divya is a climate change adaptation and resilience specialist with around 18 years of experience of working in this domain with multiple agencies.

Ms. Divya Mohan presented the Sikkim state in the Indian Himalayas, which is a hotspot for GLOFs and has approximately 40 critical/high risk lakes. The South Lhonak Lake is one of the largest and fastest growing lakes, and this lake has potential to claim the lives and damage infrastructure up to several hundred of kilometres downstream in the valley. In 2023 these warning statements turned into reality when a GLOF was triggered by a landslide into the South Lhonak Lake. The army camp downstream was first to notice and was able to evacuate people downstream, but there was extensive damage, significant loss of life and loss of livelihoods. As well as direct losses there are continuing impacts such as tourism which is one of the main income generating activities for the state was considerably impacted.

Under the Strengthening Climate Adaptation-Himalayas project aims enhance preparedness to GLOFs, by establishing an integrated early warning and response systems. The South Lhonak Lake and Shako Cho Lake have been the focus of this project. The project conducted risk assessments, modelling, and early warning system design. State of the art Swiss monitoring stations were bought to the region to be used for monitoring – it was highlighted how robust these monitoring stations can be as they function all year round and transmit information, including pictures, through satellite communication. The monitoring stations are managed by the Indian government so the information is available on an online portal that is open to all relevant Indian Government Institutions, and has supported building trust in the data and strengthened collaboration with project stakeholders. The project is now working to develop a GLOF SOP and capacity building in the region.

Glacial lake outburst flood management, lessons from Lake 513, Peru

Dr. Randy Muñoz holds a PhD from the University of Zurich and has been actively involved in research and practical interventions for climate change adaptation and risk management in the Andes. His research interests include studying the impacts of climate change on mountain regions, disaster risk reduction, and robust decision-making under deep uncertainties, with a particular focus on mountain hydrology and glacier lake outburst floods and their effects on the livelihoods and health of mountain communities. His recent works have focused on enhancing the robustness of hydrological simulations in data-scarce environments, analyzing socio-economic factors affecting water use, and assessing adaptation measures in response to climate and socioeconomic changes. He is the coordinator of the CLOC Conéctate A+ network since 2021 with the aim to foster exchange and collaboration between researchers based in Switzerland and in the Andes region with focus on climate change.

Lake 513 is located in Peru, and is a large area of tourism and research. Due to the increasing size of the lake there has been increasing concern about GLOFs. The technical authorities of the area built a tunnel to remove water, and had a key impact on a GLOF that took place in 2010. Approximately 500,000 cubic metres of rock and ice reached the lake and caused a wave that over caused the moraine dam in the lake. The combination of sediments and water destroyed instrastrue downstream; however the construction of the tunnel was considered a success as the reduction of the water level most likely reduced the amount of water that was released by the lake.

New solutions have been created in the face of the climate crisis and the increased size of cities downstream. An early warning system was set up, built on: knowledge generation and understanding the processes that caused the GLOF event in 2010 and future potential scenarios; monitoring of what triggered the previously GLOF event, through technical solutions, sensors, monitoring stations etc. to measure the movement of the glacier and water levels; the data was then moved into a protocol so local decision makers can make a decision on a list of values; the project focused on increasing capacities of local universities by creating reports, guidelines and assessments, and also created infographics to share with local communities to explain the early warning system and the process.

This was considered a successful case of risk management as it implemented technological solutions and collaboration with local stakeholders. However there were some challenges for the project and early warning system including biases and misinformation (and some early warning monitoring stations were removed), financial sustainability, and technical sustainability.

About the A@A Knowledge Network

The Adaptation at Altitude programme, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), seeks to support mountain communities and those working with them by improving the knowledge of appropriate climate change adaptation strategies in the mountains, and transferring that knowledge through science–policy platforms to inform decision-making in national, regional and global policy processes.

The Adaptation at Altitude (A@A) Knowledge Network is a global community through which we can share experiences and knowledge on adaptation in the mountains and collaborate to accelerate the uptake of innovative solutions. Want to keep informed about our upcoming meetings and events? Find more information and details on how to get involved on our A@A Knowledge Network homepage.