Global warming-induced melting and thawing of the cryosphere are severely altering the volume and timing of water supplied from High Mountain Asia, adversely affecting downstream food and energy systems that are relied on by billions of people. The construction of more reservoirs designed to regulate streamflow and produce hydropower is a critical part of strategies for adapting to these changes. However, these projects are vulnerable to a complex set of interacting processes that are destabilizing landscapes throughout the region. Ranging in severity and the pace of change, these processes include glacial retreat and detachments, permafrost thaw and associated landslides, rock–ice avalanches, debris flows and outburst floods from glacial lakes and landslide-dammed lakes. The result is large amounts of sediment being mobilized that can fill up reservoirs, cause dam failure and degrade power turbines. Here we recommend forward-looking design and maintenance measures and sustainable sediment management solutions that can help transition towards climate change-resilient dams and reservoirs in High Mountain Asia, in large part based on improved monitoring and prediction of compound and cascading hazards.

全球变暖引起的冰冻圈融化和融化正在严重改变亚洲高山的供水量和时间，对数十亿人赖以生存的下游粮食和能源系统产生不利影响。建造更多旨在调节流量和生产水电的水库是适应这些变化的战略的关键部分。然而，这些项目很容易受到一系列复杂的相互作用过程的影响，这些过程正在破坏整个地区的景观。这些过程的严重程度和变化速度不等，包括冰川退缩和分离、永久冻土融化和相关的滑坡、岩冰雪崩、泥石流和冰川湖和滑坡堰塞湖的爆发洪水。结果是大量沉积物被移动，可能会填满水库，导致大坝失效并降低动力涡轮机的性能。在这里，我们推荐前瞻性的设计和维护措施以及可持续的沉积物管理解决方案，这些解决方案有助于在亚洲高山地区向适应气候变化的大坝和水库过渡，这在很大程度上基于对复合和级联灾害的改进监测和预测。