Yala Glacier

The Yala Glacier in Nepal retreated by 680 meters and reduced in area by 36% between 1974 and 2021.

• Projections indicate that Yala Glacier may vanish by the 2040s due to ongoing climate change impacts.
• Yala Glacier, located in Nepal’s Langtang region, is a plateau glacier spanning elevations from 5,170 to 5,750 meters above sea level.
• It is the only glacier in the Himalayas included in the Global Glacier Casualty List (GGCL), a project initiated in 2024 by Rice University, University of Iceland, Iceland Glaciological Society, World Meteorological Organization (WMO), World Glacier Monitoring Service, and UNESCO.
• Glacier retreat refers to the shrinking of glaciers due to melting, evaporation, or other processes.
• Glaciers already lost include Pico Humboldt Glacier (Venezuela, 2024) and Sarenne Glacier (France, 2023).
• The Dagu Glacier in China is expected to disappear by 2030.
• Glaciers and ice sheets store 70% of the world’s freshwater, crucial for ecosystems and human survival, especially for 240 million people in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region.