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Climate change has caused Nepal’s Himalayan glaciers to shrink by nearly a quarter in just over 30 years, raising the risk of natural disasters in the ecologically fragile region, a scientist said. A new study by the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) shows that the area covered by glaciers has decreased by 24 per cent between 1977 and 2010. Samjwal Ratna Bajracharya, lead author of the report, said: “The shrinking of glaciers in Nepal is definitely connected to climate change, glacial melt is a huge indicator of rising temperatures.” The Norway-funded research project led by ICIMOD took three years to complete, as scientists mapped satellite imagery from several decades to see the extent of ice loss in the region.