Scientists at Penn State, Tsinghua University and the University of Texas at Austin project that under a scenario of weak climate policy, the Tibetan Plateau, known as the Asia's 'water tower', would face severely depleted supplies.

The area supplies freshwater for nearly two billion people who live in regions downstream, including central Asia and Afghanistan as well as Northern India, Kashmir and Pakistan.

“The prognosis is not good,” said Michael Mann, professor of atmospheric science at Penn State.

“In a ‘business as usual’ scenario, where we fail to meaningfully curtail fossil-fuel burning in the decades ahead, we can expect a near collapse — that is, nearly 100 per cent loss — of water availability to downstream regions of the Tibetan Plateau. I was surprised at just how large the predicted decrease is even under a scenario of modest climate policy.”

To understand the area’s future terrestrial water storage, the team used satellite-based...