About a fifth of the world's population relies on this glacier fed water every year for their drinking water, for sanitation, for irrigation for crops and for hydroelectric power. That's countries like India, China, Bhutan, Nepal and Pakistan.
Prof Neil Glasser of the University of Aberystwyth.
Professor Glasser was speaking in a video promoting the Royal Society's Summer Exhibition.
Unfortunately he seems unaware of the meteorological phenomenon known as "the monsoon". This confusion among glaciologists as to where precisely people in India get their water from has been apparent for some time now. This four-year old article refers to "creeping hyperbole" on the subject and even features Peter Gleick referring to "misinformation". Another scientist featured in that article was quoted as follows:
[Glaciologist Jeff La Frenniere] agreed that overstatements about the impacts are rampant in the Himalayas as well, saying, "The idea that 1.4 billion people are going to be without water when the glaciers melt is just not the case. It's a local problem; it's a local question. There are places that are going to be more impacted than other places."
Those aren't messages that environmental activists will likely find easy to hear.
Environmental activists? Misinformation? Do you think they could be referring to the Royal Society?