An expedition team was sent in April by Greenpeace China to gather visual evidence of the retreat of the Rongbuk Glacier - Everest's main glacier - to build awareness in China of the mounting threat of climate change.

Photos released by the expedition team showed significant retreats of the glaciers, compared with photos taken in 1968.

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According to Greenpeace, Himalayan glaciers could shrink from the present 500,000 square kilometers to a mere 100,000 square kilometers by 2030 - a reduction of 80 percent.

The effects of global warming are already taking their toll. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau - home to more than 46,000 glaciers - has suffered a 10 percent decrease in glacier coverage in the past three decades, and the melting will only accelerate in coming years.

"Glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau are essential sources of fresh water supplies, being the origin of many of China's main rivers, such as Huang He and Chang Jiang," said Frances Yeung Hoi-shan, Climate and Energy Campaigner for Greenpeace.

The continued melting of glaciers in the Himalayas, Yeung said, will decrease the replenishment of fresh water in these main rivers and may cause fresh water shortages.

Greenpeace launched a campaign in Wan Chai yesterday for Hong Kongers to do their part to stop the catastrophic effects of global warming, urging them to replace inefficient incandescent lamps with compact fluorescent lamps, which save more than 75 percent of energy and can last 10 times longer than incandescent lamps.