The end of eternal ice: Many glaciers will not survive this century, climate scientists say

Glaciers in many regions will not survive the 21^st century if they keep melting at the current rate, potentially jeopardizing hundreds of millions of people living downstream, UN climate experts said on Friday, the first World Day for Glaciers.

Together with ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, glaciers lock up about 70 per cent of the world’s freshwater reserves. They are striking indicators of climate change, as they typically remain about the same size in a stable climate.

But with rising temperatures and global warming triggered by human-induced climate change, they are melting at unprecedented speed, said Sulagna Mishra, Scientific Officer at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Hundreds of millions of livelihoods at risk

Last year, glaciers in Scandinavia, the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard and North Asia experienced the largest annual loss of overall mass on record. Glaciologists determine the state of a glacier by measuring how much snow falls on it and how much melt occurs every year, according to UN partner the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) at the University of Zurich.

Last year, glaciers in Scandinavia, the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard and North Asia experienced the largest annual loss of overall mass on record.

In the 500-mile-long Hindu Kush mountain range, located in the western Himalayas and stretching from Afghanistan to Pakistan, the livelihoods of more than 120 million farmers are under threat from glacial loss, Ms. Mishra explained.

The mountain range has been dubbed the “third pole” because of the extraordinary water resources it holds, she noted.

‘Irreversible’ retreat

Despite these vast freshwater reserves, it may already be too late to save them for future generations.

Large masses of perennial ice are disappearing quickly, with five out of the past six years seeing the most rapid glacier retreat on record, according to WMO.

The period from 2022 to 2024 also experienced the largest-ever three-year loss.

“We are seeing an unprecedented change in the glaciers,” which in many cases may be irreversible, said Ms. Mishra.

Ice melt the size of Germany

The World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) estimates that glaciers, which do not include the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets, have lost more than 9,000 billion tonnes of mass since 1975.

“This is equivalent to a huge ice block of the size of Germany with a thickness of 25 metres,” said Michael Zemp, Director of WGMS. The world has lost 273 billion tonnes of ice on average every year since 2000, he added, highlighting the findings of a new international study into glacier mass change.

“To put that into context, 273 billion tonnes of ice lost every year corresponds about to the water intake of the entire [world] population for 30 years,” Mr. Zemp said. In central Europe, almost 40 per cent of the remaining ice has melted. If this continues at the current rate, “glaciers will not survive this century in the Alps”.

Echoing those concerns, WMO’s Ms. Mishra added that if emissions of warming greenhouse gases are not slowed “and the temperatures are rising at the rate they are at the moment, by the end of 2100, we are going to lose 80 per cent of the small glaciers” across Europe, East Africa, Indonesia and elsewhere.

A trigger for large-scale floods

Glacial melt has immediate, large-scale repercussions for the economy, ecosystems and communities.

Latest data indicates that 25 to 30 per cent of sea level rise comes from glacier melt, according to the World Glacier Monitoring Service.

Melting snowcaps are causing sea levels to rise about one millimetre higher every year, a figure that might seem insignificant until – and yet every millimetre will flood another 200,000 to 300,000 persons every year. “Small number, huge impact,” glaciologist Mr. Zemp said.

Everyone is affected

Floods can affect people’s livelihoods and compel them to emigrate from one place to another, WMO’s Ms. Mishra continued. “When you ask me how many people are actually impacted, it's really everyone,” she stressed.

From a multilateral perspective, “it is really high time that we create awareness, and we change our policies and...we mobilize resources to make sure that we have good, policy frameworks in place, we have good research in place that can help us to mitigate and also adapt to these new changes,” Ms. Mishra insisted.

A day to consider world’s glaciers

Providing added momentum to this campaign, the World Day for Glaciers on 21 March aims to raise awareness about the critical role that these massive frozen rivers of snow and ice play in the climate system. It coincides with World Water Day.

To mark the occasion – which is one of the highlights of the 2025 International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation - global leaders, policymakers, scientists and civil society representatives are due to gather at UN headquarters in New York to highlight the importance of glaciers and to boost worldwide monitoring of the cryospheric processes of freezing and melting that affect them.

Mr. Zemp, who heads World Glacier Monitoring Service and teaches glaciology at the University of Zurich, is already preparing for a world without glaciers.

“If I think of my children, I am living in a world with maybe no glaciers. That’s actually quite alarming,” he told UN News.

“I really recommend going with your children there and having a look at it, because you can see the dramatic changes that are going on. And you will also realize that we are putting a big burden on our next generation.”

Glacier of the Year

This year’s Glacier of the Year 2025 is South Cascade Glacier in the US state of Washington.

The body of ice, which has been continuously monitored since 1952, provides one of the longest uninterrupted records of glaciological mass balance in the western hemisphere.

“South Cascade Glacier exemplifies both the beauty of glaciers and the long-term commitment of dedicated scientists and volunteers who have collected direct field data to quantify glacier mass change for more than six decades”, said Caitlyn Florentine, from the U.S. Geological Survey.

ends

STORY: World Glaciers Day

TRT: 03’32”

SOURCE: UNTV CH

RESTRICTIONS: NONE

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

ASPECT RATIO: 16:9

DATELINE: 21 March 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND + broll dated as indicated. Embargo lifts 00h01 CET on 21 March / 00h01 Geneva on 21 March + 19h01 New York on 20 March

Speakers:

• Sulagna Mishra, Scientific Officer, World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

• Michael Zemp, Director, World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS)

SHOTLIST

1. Exterior medium shot: Palais des Nations, Flag Alley.
2. Aerial shot: glacier, 31 OCTOBER 2021, ANAPPURNA, NEPAL.
3. SOUNDBITE (English) – Sulagna Mishra, Scientific Officer, World Meteorological Organization (WMO): “Many of the glaciers are melting very fast because of the raising of the temperature, because of global warming, because of climate change we are seeing an unprecedented change in the glaciers and many of them are irreversible.”
4. Medium wide shot of iceberg, 23 NOVEMBER 2023, ANTARCTICA.
5. SOUNDBITE (English) - Michael Zemp, Director, World Glacier Monitoring Service: “Since 2000, we lost an annual average of 273 billion tonnes of ice; that’s just a huge number. To put that into context, 273 billion tonnes of ice lost every year corresponds about to the water intake of the entire [global] population for 30 years.”
6. Wide pan shot: mountains, 31 OCTOBER 2021, ANAPPURNA, NEPAL.
7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Sulagna Mishra, Scientific Officer, World Meteorological Organization (WMO): “Let's talk of Hindu Kush [in the] Himalayas, which is also called as a third pole because they hold a lot of water resources. Here, more than 120 million farmers in the downstream areas are impacted directly because of the melting of the glaciers.”
8. Wide shot: sea and ice shelf, 23 NOVEMBER 2023, ANTARCTICA.
9. SOUNDBITE (English) - Sulagna Mishra, Scientific Officer, World Meteorological Organization (WMO): “So, when there are a lot of floods, for example, happening because of melting of glaciers, the livelihoods are changed, people tend to migrate from one place to another…so when you ask me how many people are actually impacted, it's really everyone.”
10.  Medium-wide: mountains and glacier with glacial lake seen from plane, 8 JULY 2015, SVALBARD, NORWAY.
11. SOUNDBITE (English) – Michael Zemp, Director, World Glacier Monitoring Service: “Currently, glaciers are contributing to sea level [rise] by about one millimetre a year. That sounds [like] nothing, one millimetre, right? But it has a huge impact. Small number, huge impact. Every millimetre of additional sea level rise is going to flood another 200,000 to 300,000 persons every year.”
12.  Wide shot: people hiking towards the Matterhorn, 8 October 2017, Zermatt, Switzerland: people hiking towards the Matterhorn, courtesy of Michael Zemp.
13.  SOUNDBITE (English) – Michael Zemp, Director, World Glacier Monitoring Service: “We sometimes forget that in the European Alps we are one of the regions that is most affected by climate change. Warming is about double the global average, and indeed, glaciers in the Alps are one of the most suffering around the world. We are losing…we have lost since 2000 almost 40 per cent of the remaining ice. And that means under current melt rates, glaciers will not survive this century in the Alps.”
14. Exterior medium shot: Palais des Nations, snowy Flag Alley.
15.  SOUNDBITE (English) – Sulagna Mishra, Scientific Officer, World Meteorological Organization (WMO): “If we continue emissions and the temperatures are rising at the rate they are at the moment, by the end of 2100, we are going to lose 80 per cent of the small glaciers, the small glaciers - we have them in Europe, we have them in eastern Africa, in Indonesia and many other places.”
16. Wide, snowy high mountain peaks, glacial lake, 31 OCTOBER 2021, ANAPPURNA, NEPAL.
17.  SOUNDBITE (English) – Sulagna Mishra, Scientific Officer, World Meteorological Organization (WMO): “It is really high time that we create awareness and we change our policies and we create…we mobilize resources to make sure that we have good policy frameworks in place, we have good research in place that can help us to mitigate and also adapt to these new changes.”
18. Aerial: mountain refuge overlooking Findel Glacier, Zermatt, Switzerland, 8 OCTOBER 2017, courtesy of Michael Zemp.
19. Aerial: glacial fissures descending a mountain slope, Switzerland, 8 OCTOBER 2017, courtesy of Michael Zemp.
20.  SOUNDBITE (English) – Michael Zemp, Director, World Glacier Monitoring Service: “If I think of my children, I am living in a world with maybe no glaciers, that's actually quite alarming or shocking for myself. So, if you have glaciers in your region, I really recommend to go with your children there and have a look at it, because you can see the dramatic changes that are going on. And you will also realize that we are putting a big burden on our next generation.”
21.  Wide shot: snow-capped high mountains, 31 OCTOBER 2021, ANAPPURNA, NEPAL.
22.  Wide shot: ice shelf, sea, 23 NOVEMBER 2023, ANTARCTICA.

Additional assets:

1: Climate & Consequence video featuring glaciologist Michael Zemp, from the University of Zurich: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h4rjJRRdiwLBz2-mx6dFbFuofCbxAmHD/view?usp=sharing

2: World Glaciers Day 90-second multimedia video explainer:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/fmf7nd4rukvaw2pzz21st/ABCI0gDc07QrYzw_B99SGMY?rlkey=apltsqfozaufkrpl77jy8hb7w&st=ie4detx4&dl=0

3: Glacier photos - credit Elma Okic