Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) Region and ICIMOD
The Hindu Kush Himalaya is a roughly 3,500-km mountain system spanning eight countries — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan — from the Hindu Kush range in Afghanistan to the Arakan range in Myanmar, with the Himalayan range as its spine. It is often called the "Third Pole" for holding the largest ice mass outside the polar regions and is the source of ten major river systems in Asia.
- ICIMOD is an intergovernmental knowledge and learning centre for the HKH region, established in 1983 and headquartered at Khumaltar, Lalitpur, in the Kathmandu valley, Nepal
- ICIMOD's member countries are the same eight HKH nations listed above
- Only 21 glaciers are monitored on the ground out of an estimated 40,000 in the region, reflecting a major data/monitoring gap that limits early-warning capacity
● Tracked since August 31, 2026 · last seen September 18, 2026 · updates as the daily brief publishes
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