HiRISK Expert Database

This page provides an expert database specifically for risks in High Mountain Asia (as well as global examples), a list of FAQs on risks in the region and resources for scientists and journalists for effective communication and outreach.

Beyond the global examples above, we provide details of experts from inside and outside the High Mountain Asia region, familiar with risks and related datasets.

Name	Expertise topic	Expertise region	email	Country	Institution	Languages	Gender
Sameera Noori	resilience, DRR	Afghanistan	samira.drr@coar.org.af	Afghanistan	COAR	English, Dari, Pashto, Urdu	F
Abdulhadi Achakzai	environmental risk, advocacy	Afghanistan	abdulhadi.matakzai@gmail.com	Afghanistan	EPTDO	English, Pashto	M
Najibullah Sadid	water resources	Afghanistan	najibsadid@hotmail.com	Afghanistan, Germany		English, Dari, Pashto	M
Abdul Haseeb Azizi	snow	Afghanistan, Panjshir	abdulhaseeb.azizi786@gmail.com	Afghanistan, Germany	ZEF Bonn	English, Dari	M
Qiyamud Din Ikram	vulnerability and risk, climate mobility, DRR	Afghanistan, Global	qiyam.salarzai@gmail.com	Afghanistan, Germany	UNU-EHS, FAO	Pashto, English	M
Fazlullah Akhtar	water resources, agriculture	Afghanistan	f.akhtar@uni-bonn.de	Afghanistan, Germany	ZEF Bonn	Pashto, English	M
Mohammad Rabi Qazizada	remote sensing, governance and environment & climate	Afghanistan	mohammadrabi03@gmail.com	Afghanistan, USA		English, Dari, Pashto	M
Nirpa Raj Dangal	IoT, AI/ML, UAV, Green Energy, Smart City, Digital Fabrication	Bhutan	nirparajdangal@dhi.bt	Bhutan	DHI	English, Dzongkha	M
Sonam Rinzin	glacial lake outburst floods	Bhutan Himalaya	rixinsonam@gmail.com	Bhutan, UK	University of Newcastle	English, Dzongkha	M
Qiao Liu	glaciology, hazards	Hengduan Shan	liuqiao@imde.ac.cn	China	IMHE Chengdu	English, Chinese	M
Peng Taixin	geohazards	Tibetan Plateau, China	ptx@imde.ac.cn	China	IMHE Chengdu	English, Chinese	M
Chen Ningsheng	mountain hazards prevention and reduction engineering	Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China	chennsh@imde.ac.cn	China	IMHE Chengdu, Yangtze University	Chinese, English	M
Xiaoming Wang	climate adaptation, DRR	HMA, global	xiaomingwang@swin.edu.au	China, Australia	Monash University, Swinburne University, CSIRO	English, Chinese	M
Liu Rongkun	resilience, hazard assessments	Himalaya, Tibetan Plateau	rongkun.liu@icimod.org	China, Nepal	ICIMOD	English, Chinese	M
Wang Lu	water governance, groundwater management, water and agriculture	Gansu, North China Plain	lu.wang@linkedwater.nl	China, Netherlands	LinkedWater	English, Chinese	F
Zhong Yan	rock ice avalanches	Tibetan Plateau, Himalaya	Yan.Zhong@etu.unige.ch	China, Switzerland	University Geneva	English, Chinese	F
Marin Kneib	glaciers, avalanches	Alps, Khumbu, Langtang	marin.kneib@gmail.com	France	University Grenoble	English, French	M
Ben Marzeion	global scale glacier modelling	Global	ben.marzeion@uni-bremen.de	Germany	University Bremen	English, German	M
Lachlan Fleetwood	history of science	Himalaya, Pamir	lachlan.fleetwood@gmail.com	Germany	Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU)	English	M
Argha Banerjee	mountain glaciers	Indian Himalaya	argha@iiserpune.ac.in	India	IISER Pune	English, Hindi, Bengali	M
Mohammad Farooq Azam	glaciology	Ladakh, Uttrakhand	farooqazam@iiti.ac.in	India	IIT Indore	English, Hindi, Punjabi	M
Saurabh Vijay	remote sensing	Himalaya	saurabh.vijay@ce.iitr.ac.in	India	IIT Roorkee	English, Hindi	M
Arindan Mandal	mountain glacier-atmosphere interactions	Indian Himalaya, Uttrakhand	arindanm@iisc.ac.in	India	Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore	English, Hindi, Bengali	M
Rajeev Rajak	glacial lakes, glacial geomorphology	Sikkim	rajeevrajak.cryo@gmail.com	India	Sikkim University	English, Nepali, Hindi	M
Ravinder Singh	mountain hazards, DRR, mitigation	Indian Himalaya	drsingh83ravinder@gmail.com	India	NIDM	English, Hindi	M
Vitalii Zaginaev	natural hazards, GLOF, risk assessment	Central Asia	vitalii.zaginaev@ucentralasia.com	Kyrgyzstan	University of Central Asia	English, Russian	M
Prashant Baral	permafrost	Humla, Langtang, Nepal	prashant.baral@icimod.org	Nepal	ICIMOD	Nepali, English	M
Tenzing Sherpa	mountain climate	Khumbu	tenzchogs@gmail.com	Nepal	ICIMOD	English, Nepali	M
Finu Shrestha	glacial lakes	Nepal	finu.shrestha@icimod.org	Nepal	ICIMOD	English, Nepali	F
Basanta Raj Adhikari	landslide, multihazard risks	Nepal	basanta58@gmail.com	Nepal	Tribhuvan University	English, Nepali	M
Sanjaya Devkota	multihazard risk	Nepal	devkotasanjaya@gmail.com	Nepal	IHRR	English, Nepali	M
Sunita Chaudhary	biodiversity, climate change	Hindukush Himalaya	suni.chaudhary@gmail.com	Nepal	ICIMOD	English, Nepali, Hindi, Urdu	F
Kaushal Gnyawali	landslide, rock ice avalanche	Nepal	kaushal.gnyawali@gmail.com	Nepal, Canada	University of British Columbia	Nepali, English	M
Sanita Dhaubanjar	hydroecomonics, hydropower, water-energy nexus	Upper Indus Basin	sdhauban@gmail.com	Nepal, Denmark	DMI	English, Nepali, Hindi, Newari, Danish	F
Arbindra Khadka	mountain glaciers	Nepal, Khumbu	arbindra.khadka@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr	Nepal, France	University Grenoble	English, Nepali	M
Rajaram Prajapati	citizen science, sediments	Bagmati, Mustang, Nepal	rap232@pitt.edu	Nepal, USA	Smartphones4Water, University of Pittsburgh	English, Nepali, Nepal Basa	M
Amrit Thapa	snow	Nepal	aamritjnu@gmail.com	Nepal, USA	University Alaska Fairbanks	English, Nepali	M
Saumya Pandey	sediments, politics of knowledge making, environment	Himalaya	saumya.pandey@cmi.no	Norway, India, Nepal	CMI – Chr. Michelsen Institute	English, Hindi	F
Fozia Parveen	education, climate change, local knowledge	Pakistan, Hunza	fozia.parveen@aku.edu	Pakistan	Aga Khan University	English, Urdu, Burushaski, Wakhi	F
Adnan Siddique	remote sensing, hazard monitoring	Pakistan, Upper Indus Basin	adnan.siddique@itu.edu.pk	Pakistan	Information Technology University, Lahore, Pakistan	Urdu, English	M
Ghulam Hussain Dars	hydrology, climate	Balochistan, Upper Indus Basin	ghdars.uspcasw@faculty.muet.edu.pk	Pakistan	USPCAS-W Mehran UET Jamshoro	English, Urdu, Sindhi	M
Syed Hammad Ali	hydrology, cryosphere	Upper Indus Basin	syedhammadali2001@yahoo.com	Pakistan	WAPDA	English, Urdu, Punjabi	M
Haris Mushtaq	climate, hydrology	Pakistan	harismushtaq021@gmail.com	Pakistan	WenClims/GIZ	English, Urdu	M
Salar Ali	ecology, water quality	Baltistan	salar.ali@uobs.edu.pk	Pakistan	University of Baltistan	English, Urdu	M
Jakob Steiner	mountain hydrology	Langtang, Mustang, Karakoram	jakob.steiner@uni-graz.at	Pakistan, Austria	University of Graz	English, German, Italian, Urdu, Dutch	M
Khusrav Kabytov	cryosphere, monitoring	Tajikistan	kabutov.khusrav@gmail.com	Tajikistan	National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan	English, Tajik	M
Roy Sidle	mountain disaster prevention	Tajikistan, Global	roy.sidle@ucentralasia.org	Tajikistan, Japan	University of Central Asia, Yamano Bosai	English	M
Fabien Maussion	global glacier modelling	Global	fabien.maussion@bristol.ac.uk	UK	University Bristol	English, French, German	M
Maria Shahgedanova	cryosphere, water resources, hazards	Central Asia	m.shahgedanova@reading.ac.uk	UK	University of Reading	English, Russain	F
Rosalind Cornforth	meteorology, EWS	Global, Central Asia, Nepal	r.j.cornforth@reading.ac.uk	UK	University of Reading	English	F
David Rounce	global glacier modeling, runoff, GLOF	Global	drounce@cmu.edu	USA	CMU Pittsburgh	English	M
Neosha Narayanan	mountain glaciers, surges, subglacial hydrology	Karakoram	nnarayanan38@gatech.edu	USA	Georgia Tech	English	F
Zahir Ahmad	climate change, water management, agropastoralism, glaciology	Hindukush	zahir.ahmad@iub.edu.pk	Pakistan	The Islamia University of Bahawalpur	English, Urdu, Khowar, Pashto	M
Zarina Baig	disaster governance, vulnerabilities	Hunza	Baigzarina@gmail.com	Pakistan	Karakoram International University, Gilgit-Baltistan	Burushaski, English, Urdu	F
Aaliya	vulnerabilities, mental health	Hunza	aaliya.aaliya@duke.edu	Pakistan, USA	Duke University	English, Burushaski	F
Zahoor Ahmad	snow, glaciers	Swat	zahoor.ahmad@lums.edu.pk	Pakistan	LUMS, Lahore	English, Pashto, Urdu	M
Talha Manzoor	sensing, sociohydrology	Pakistan	talha.manzoor@lums.edu.pk	Pakistan	LUMS, Lahore	English, Urdu	M

Frequently asked questions (FAQs) on risks in High Mountain Asia

What areas and countries does High Mountain Asia (HMA) cover?

HMA partially covers 11 countries, including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar. Often the term Hindukush-Himalaya (HKH) is also used (including 7 of the above plus Bangladesh, excluding the ex-Soviet Central Asian states). Other terms include the Third Pole (possibly similar to the HMA extent), and the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), only including the Chinese part of HMA. On terminologies and their politization see Patel, 2021.

How many people live in High Mountain Asia?

The simple answer is – we don’t know exactly (see Thornton et al. 2022 for a global discussion of the problem). Population numbers in the region are often out of date, and remote methods not standardized. There is also no clear definition on the extent of High Mountain Asia and numbers quoted are often including people living downstream. For the HKH estimates of more than 200 million for the mountain regions, and 1.3 billion including the downstream areas have been put forward (see GRID Arendal analysis).

Are people migrating away from the mountains because of climate change?

Anecdotal evidence suggests that people are indeed moving away from higher villages to lower, larger settlements in contexts of exposure to risks in the region. However, there is just as much evidence of people staying against all odds (see for example Upadhyay et al. 2023). There exists no comprehensive dataset that can answer the question for the whole region at this point, and untangling push and pull factors between climate change and other factors remains difficult.

How many glaciers are there in HMA?

According to the latest count, taking stock of glaciers around the year 2000, there were 131765 glaciers in the region (RGI7). This number has since likely reduced. They include approximately 7000 km³ of ice.

How many landslides, glacial lake outburst floods and avalanches happen in the region each year and how many people are killed?

Too many landslides and avalanches happen in the region every year that we could count them. However, fatal landslides in Nepal for example have reached up to 50 per year, and more than 12000 people were killed between 1978 and 2005 (Petley et al. 2007). Between the 1950s and 2023, 152 fatal avalanches are recorded in HMA (excluding climbing accidents), killing more than 3300 people (ca 50 per year, Acharya et al. 2023). In the same period, 26 fatal (and 428 non fatal) GLOFs occured killing 7000 people (although that includes 6000 reported killed in a single event in 2013, that included other processes as well).

Are glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) increasing in High Mountain Asia?

There is no evidence for GLOFs increasing either globally or in High Mountain Asia (see e.g. Veh et al., 2022 or Shrestha et al. 2023) . For lakes dammed by ice there is evidence of a decrease in events and their intensity, but a shift in seasonality (see e.g. Veh et al. 2023).

Resources on communicating risks to journalists

Communicating risks in any context, but especially in complex environments with relatively sparce data, can be difficult. Faced with uncertainties, lack of data, the need for fast and concise statements and the responsibility we have as our statements may result in direct responses on adaptation or mitigation may deter you from doing so. But we believe that the know how from regional experts, who are familiar with the state of the art knowledge is crucial for outreach. Below we provide a list of materials that provide guidance on how to tackle this challenge.

Why Scientists need media training (pt. 2, 3, 4)?

A Scientist’s guide to talking with the media.

AGU’s Scientist’s guide to working with the media.

AAAS’ Communication toolkit.

How to talk to a scientist.