Reacción a "A study confirms that the thawing of permafrost and the weakening of glaciers due to climate change contributed to the flash floods in Nepal"

In this study published by World Weather Attribution, an international team of scientists analyzes the role of climate change among the possible factors behind the catastrophic event that occurred in the Himalayas on August 26, which caused devastation resulting in an extremely high loss of life and extraordinary property damage—far exceeding the limits of adaptation to such extreme events.

According to the study’s authors, the collapse on Lantang Lirung Mountain—which triggered the massive avalanche of ice, water, and debris that caused the terrible catastrophe—was the result of an extraordinary combination of various geological and climatic factors, in which global warming played a critical role. The Himalayas are a region of highly active tectonics which, like other mountain ranges and glacial areas, is experiencing the impact of global warming more acutely: melting and retreat of glacial masses, melting and fragmentation of permafrost, and changes in the pattern and intensity of precipitation.

High-mountain areas, as the authors of the study explain for the region under investigation, are extraordinarily sensitive to global warming. The recorded increases in temperature—both annual and seasonal—lead to a greater presence of liquid water, both in the bedrock and in the glaciers. This, in turn, leads to greater instability in rocky slopes and glacial masses. Although the events at Lantang Lirung and the China-Nepal border have exceeded what was imaginable for an event of this nature, this summer has seen a high incidence of rock and glacial avalanches in the Alps and the American mountain ranges. The events in the Swiss town of Blatten in 2025 are representative of the changes that have been taking place in recent years in mountainous areas, which were previously considered relatively stable and at relatively low risk of these slope-movement phenomena.

Furthermore, the very topography of the Himalayas—where valley floors are the most densely populated areas—makes it, as the authors point out, very difficult to reduce vulnerability to these situations involving such a high level of danger.