Asia warming up faster; India faces melting glaciers

Pune: Dangerous heat, devastating rainfall and flooding, and severe drought affected millions of people across Asia in 2025, as the continent continued to warm faster than the global average and ocean heat reached a new record, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in a report.

All the 23 monitored glaciers in high-mountain Asia contracted in size, according to the report. Experts said this posed a threat to India's dense population and infrastructure in northern states.

Asia has warmed faster than the global average in recent decades, with the warming trend during 1991-2025 approximately twice that observed during 1961-1990. The year 2025 was between the second and fourth warmest year on record depending on the dataset used.


Glaciers shrank amid above-average temperatures and below-average winter snow, the report said. Last year also saw multiple glacial lake outburst floods and glacier collapses. This threatens the life of the densely populated Indo Gangetic plain and the infrastructure in the region.

"The melting of glaciers in the Himalayas is a concern for India as the resulting flooding affects the population and infrastructure in this region," said OP Shreejith, the lead author of the report.

The WMO State of the Climate in Asia 2025 reports that the ocean heat, which has increased since the 1990s, reached a new record. Marine heatwaves affected almost the entire ocean area of Asia, increasing risks to marine ecosystems and coastal communities.

"Sea level is rising faster than the global mean in much of the northern Indian Ocean, reaching 4.9 mm/year along the Indian coast," the report said. The WMO has emphasised the need for an early warning system to minimise losses.