Glaciers in many regions of the planet will not survive the 21st century if they continue to melt at the current rate. This was stated by UN climate experts on World Glacier Day, which is celebrated for the first time this year at the initiative of the Republic of Tajikistan.
World Glacier Day (March 21) aims to raise awareness of the vital role glaciers play in the Earth’s climate system. It is celebrated on the eve of World Water Day (March 22). An event dedicated to both dates was held at the UN headquarters in New York. It was designed to draw attention to the interconnected issues of water availability, climate change and glacier melting. The event was sponsored by Barbados, Canada, Peru, Senegal, Singapore, Tajikistan, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.
“We must not forget the cold, hard truth: preserving glaciers is essential to security, prosperity and justice,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres in his message for World Water Day. “Let us act together to preserve these frozen sources of life for humanity.”
Glaciers contain about 70% of the world’s fresh water. They are indicators of climate change because they do not usually melt in stable climates. Now, due to global warming caused by human-induced climate change, their area is shrinking at an unprecedented rate.
Last year, glaciers in Scandinavia, the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard and northern Asia suffered their largest annual loss of total mass on record. In the Hindu Kush mountain range of the western Himalayas, stretching from Afghanistan to Pakistan, more than 120 million farmers could lose their livelihoods.
Vast masses of ice are disappearing rapidly. Five of the past six years have seen the fastest melting on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
“We are seeing unprecedented changes that in many cases may be irreversible,” says Sulagna Mishra, a WMO scientist.
The World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) estimates that glaciers outside Greenland and Antarctica have lost more than 9,000 billion tons of mass since 1975.
“This is equivalent to a huge ice block the size of Germany and 25 meters thick,” explained VSML Director Michael Zemp.
Ice loss is 273 billion tons per year, roughly equivalent to the world’s entire population’s water consumption for 30 years. In Central Europe, almost 40 percent of the remaining ice has melted. “If this continues at the current rate, the glaciers in the Alps will not survive this century,” said Michael Zemp.
Sulagna Mishra of the WMO added that if emissions of warming greenhouse gases are not curbed and temperatures continue to rise at their current rate, 80% of small glaciers in Europe, East Africa, Indonesia and several other regions will be lost by the end of 2100.
The latest data from the World Glacier Monitoring Service show that 25 to 30 percent of sea level rise is due to melting glaciers. Sea levels rise by about one millimeter every year. This figure may seem insignificant at first glance, but it should be taken into account that each millimeter floods an area inhabited by 200,000 to 300,000 people. Floods can deprive people of their livelihoods and force them to migrate from one place to another.
WSML Director Michael Zemp, who teaches glaciology at the University of Zurich, believes that we should already be preparing for a world without glaciers.
“When I think about the future of my children, I imagine a world where there will probably be no glaciers. It’s actually very worrying,” he told the UN News Service.
This year, the South Cascade in Washington State (USA) has been declared the Glacier of the Year. This ice massif has been continuously monitored since 1952.
“The South Cascade Glacier exemplifies both the beauty of glaciers and the long-term commitment of dedicated scientists and volunteers who have collected data to quantify glacier mass change for more than six decades,” said Caitlin Florentine of the U.S. Geological Survey.
PHOTO: Climate Visuals Countdown/T. Samuel
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