Srinagar, Aug. 4 -- The glaciers feeding the Upper Indus Basin have shrunk by more than 30 percent over the past six decades, and the retreat is speeding up, scientists told a conference at the Islamic University of Science and Technology on Tuesday.

The figure came from the varsity's vice chancellor, Prof. Shakil Ahmad Romshoo, who addressed the second day of a four-day international conference on nature-based solutions for climate resilience in the Himalayas.

Standing before an audience of researchers and policymakers, he described a cryosphere in retreat and a hydrological system on the edge of transformation.

"We have lost over 30 percent of the glacier mass during the last six decades, but even more glacier mass is predicted to di...