Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience (IHRR) Seminar Series: Dr Caroline Clason

Monday 26th January 2026 (14:00-15:00 seminar)

Open to everyone both in person TLC106 and online register here (registration link will be posted two weeks before seminar)

Exploring the risks of glacier decline for water, energy, and food security

Abstract: "Thousands have lived without love, but not one without water” (W.H. Auden). Mountains are crucial natural reservoirs of freshwater, often viewed as “water towers” for millions of people living downstream of Earth's high mountain regions. Yet this key resource is under threat as glaciers retreat and snowpack declines in response to the warming climate, with knock-on impacts not only for water security, but also food and energy supplies. This seminar will explore the trends, drivers, and risks of glacier change in mountain regions, and the impacts of changing freshwater availability for both people and the environment. It will discuss the state of glacier-fed water security around the world, including what the future holds for high mountain regions such as the Andes and Himalayas, and consider how we can mitigate and adapt to the impacts of Earth's disappearing ice.

Biography: Caroline Clason is an Associate Professor in Physical Geography at Durham and Co-Director of the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience. She specialises in glacier and ice sheet hydrology, water security in glacier-fed catchments, risk from environmental contaminants in glacial environments, and glacier-related hazards. Caroline’s work emphasises interdisciplinary collaboration, incorporates citizen science and art-science partnerships, and aims to co-produces knowledge on environmental risk and resilience with the communities directly impacted by glacial and hydrological change. Caroline works at the intersection of glacier change and both chronic and catastrophic hazards, and has a strong interest in environmental justice and adaptation in high-mountain and polar regions.

Readings:

• Buytaert et al., (2017), Glacial melt content of water use in the tropical Andes,  Environmental Research Letters, 12(11), 114014, https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa926c
• Clason et al. (2023), Contribution of glaciers to water, energy and food security in mountain regions: current perspectives and future priorities, Annals of Glaciology, https://doi.org/10.1017/aog.2023.14   
• Huggel et al., (2019), Loss and Damage in the mountain cryosphere, Regional Environmental Change, 19, 1387-1399, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-018-1385-8
• Huss and Hock, (2018), Global-scale hydrological response to future glacier mass loss, Nature Climate Change, 8, 135-140, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-017-0049-x   
• Immerzeel et al., (2020), Importance and vulnerability of the world’s water towers, Nature, 577, 364–369
• Kraaijenbrink et al., (2021), Climate change decisive for Asia’s snow meltwater supply, Nature Climate Change, 11, 591-597, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-01074-x  
• Mankin et al., (2015), The potential for snow to supply human water demand in the present and future, Environmental Research Letters, 10, 114016, https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/10/11/114016  
• Mark et al., (2017). Glacier loss and hydro-social risks in the Peruvian Andes, Global and Planetary Change, 159, 61-76, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2017.10.003
• Rangecroft et al. (2023), Unravelling and understanding local perceptions of water quality in the Santa basin, Peru, Journal of Hydrology, 625(A), 129949, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2023.129949
• Schwanghart et al. (2016), Uncertainty in the Himalayan energy–water nexus: estimating regional exposure to glacial lake outburst floods, Environmental Research Letters, 11, 074005, https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/11/7/074005