30, 2026) – Climate change is making rivers in the Himalayas change course faster, as rising temperatures melt glaciers and thaw frozen ground, weakening riverbanks and making rivers more unstable, a new study has found. For years, scientists have suspected that climate change could affect how rivers bend, shift and carve new paths. Rivers also changed course more often, with sharp increases in cutoffs, avulsions and changes in channel patterns. The study also found that Himalayan rivers respond differently to warming than rivers in the Arctic. The findings of the study highlight the need to incorporate climate-driven river changes into long-term water management, flood control, and infrastructure planning across the Himalayan region.