The U.N. chief mentioned Tuesday after touring the best peaks in Nepal that the world ought to finish the fossil gas age to curb what he says is a devastating degree of melting of glaciers within the Himalayan mountains attributable to world warming.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addressed Nepal’s parliament after flying previous Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak, on Monday and touring the bottom camp of Mount Annapurna, the world’s tenth highest, on Tuesday.

“Glaciers are melting at records. I was a witness,” Guterres mentioned in his tackle. “The effect is devastating. Swollen lakes bursting, rivers and seas rising, cultures threatened. And mountainsides exposed, inflaming the risk of rock slides, landslides and avalanche.”

Guterres visited cities together with Pokhara the place the place trekkers start journeys within the Mount Annapurna area, and met with native teams to debate environmental points, together with defending the Himalayan glaciers that present contemporary water to over a billion folks.

“I am here today to cry out from the rooftop of the world: Stop the madness,” Guterres mentioned. “The glaciers are retreating, but we cannot,” he mentioned. “We must end the fossil fuel age.”

A report earlier this 12 months by the Nepal-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development mentioned that Himalayan glaciers might lose as much as 80% of their glaciers if the earth warms by 4 levels Celsius in coming many years or centuries.

Guterres urged nations to stay to commitments below the 2015 Paris local weather convention to manage carbon emissions to maintain warming all the way down to 1.5 levels (2.7 levels F).

“We must act now to protect people on the frontline. And to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius,” Guterres mentioned.

Scientists warn that flash floods and avalanches might grow to be extra seemingly in coming years, partly attributable to local weather change.

Guterres additionally appealed to the worldwide neighborhood to donate funding to assist construct resilience in effected communities.