Ganga, Brahmaputra Flows To Reduce Due To Global Warming: UN Chief

The world has already witnessed how Himalayan melts have worsened flooding in Pakistan, said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that major Himalayan rivers like the Indus, the Ganges and Brahmaputra, all hugely important for India, could see reductions in their flows as glaciers and ice sheets recede over the coming decades due to global warming.

"Glaciers are critical to all life on earth. Over centuries, they carved out the landmasses we call home. Today, they cover 10 per cent of our world. Glaciers are also the world's water towers," Guterres said in his remarks at an event on the International Year of Glaciers' Preservation Wednesday.

Guterres voiced concern that human activity is driving the planet's temperature to dangerous new levels and "melting glaciers are the canary in the coalmine".

Antarctica is losing an average of 150 billion tons of ice mass every year while the Greenland ice cap is melting even faster - losing 270 billion tonnes per year.