Life in the shadow of China's melting glacier

The Urumqi number three glacier, which is shrinking and getting thinner Photograph: Jonathan Watts/Freelancer

The Urumqi glacier is cracked and gnarled by wind erosion and changing temperature Photograph: Jonathan Watts/freelancer

A visitor walks across a large piece of ice that has been separated from the glacier as the ice-field shrinks Photograph: Jonathan Watts/freelancer

A large chunk of ice lies below the glacier wall that it fell from. Every year, the ice field is retreating at the rate of more than 8m and losing 3m of thickness Photograph: Jonathan Watts/freelancer

Holes appear in the dirty, wafer thin ice above a torrent of water. Meltwater cuts a tunnel below the darkened ice Photograph: Jonathan Watts/freelancer

Rivulets just below the surface snake to the edge of the ice field. Last year, scientists say a small lake formed at the top for the first time Photograph: Jonathan Watts/freelancer

Close-up of the melting ice. The glacier always shrinks in the summer, but the speed of its retreat up the mountain is increasing every year Photograph: Jonathan Watts/freelancer

The trickle becomes a stream Photograph: Jonathan Watts/freelancer

Ashengbieke takes tourists on his motorbike up to see the glaciers. Since his childhood, he says the ice field behind him has split in two and the snow has grown dirty from pollution Photograph: Jonathan Watts/freelancer

Scientist Zhang Enzi has been living at the weather monitoring station near the glaciers for four years. He is frightened that the rising temperatures and glacier melt will hurt water supplies for millions of people downstream Photograph: Jonathan Watts/freelancer

Lush green slopes flank the road and river that link the glacier and Urumqi Photograph: Jonathan Watts/freelancer

Nomads herd their flocks beside the river that flows from the glacier. The river runs crystal clear near the glacier that is its main source. Downstream, more than 2 million people depend on water partly supplied from the melting mountain ice Photograph: Jonathan Watts/Freelancer

Bahabieke and other Kazakh nomads begin erecting their yurt in the summer camp in the Tian mountains, above 3,000m, in the far west of China. They are moving here a month earlier than five years ago because temperatures are rising Photograph: Jonathan Watts/freelancer

The brightly coloured door of the nomad's yurt is moved into place Photograph: Jonathan Watts/freelancer

Bahabieke clips the thick, colourful tent wall to the frame of the yurt Photograph: Jonathan Watts/freelancer

The nomads use pliars to twist the wire together than join the heavy fabric wall to the metal frame of the yurt. In the background are the Urumqi glaciers, about 20 minutes away by motorbike Photograph: Jonathan Watts/freelancer

Bahebieke, a nomadic herder from the Kazakh ethnic group poses as he erects his summer camp above 3,000m altitude Photograph: Jonathan Watts/freelancer

Putting the finishing touches on the yurt. A thick sheet is tied across the hole in the roof that serves as a chimney. From start to finish, it takes about three hours to erect the home Photograph: Jonathan Watts/freelancer

Inside the completed yurt. The nomad, Bahebieke and his family prepare goat cheese and bread cooked on the wooden stove Photograph: Jonathan Watts/freelancer

A nomad's yurt on the road up to the glacier. Locals say the nomadic life has improved in recent years thanks to mobile phones and solar panels that allow them to listen to the radio and use light bulbs Photograph: Jonathan Watts/freelancer