Year of the Glacier

The document highlights the 2025 International Year of Glaciers' Preservation, detailing how human-caused climate change is accelerating glacial melt. It emphasizes the role of glaciers as 'water towers' providing freshwater for billions and warns of increasing risks from glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), particularly in Asia and the Americas. The text notes that glaciers in 50 UNESCO World Heritage sites are losing an average of 58 billion tonnes of ice annually, with a third projected to vanish within 25 years.

• The International Year of Glaciers' Preservation was launched on January 21, 2025, by UNESCO and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to raise awareness about the role of glaciers and the need for their protection.
• Glacial mass loss is accelerating, with seven of the ten years of most significant loss occurring since 2010. Between 2000 and 2019, the annual rate of glacial thinning nearly doubled, excluding the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, and glacial melt contributed 21% of total observed global sea-level rise during that period.
• Over 18,000 glaciers across 50 UNESCO World Heritage sites are melting at an average rate of 58 billion tonnes of ice per year. It is projected that one-third of these glaciers will disappear entirely within the next 25 years, affecting sites such as Vatnajökull National Park in Iceland and Los Glaciares National Park in Argentina.
• Glacial retreat increases the risk of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), which have caused over 12,500 deaths since 1900. More than 15 million people are currently highly vulnerable to GLOFs, with the highest risks found in China, India, Pakistan, and Peru.
• Specific recent GLOF events include an October 2023 flood from India's South Lhonak Lake that killed 46 people and displaced nearly 90,000 across northern Bangladesh, West Bengal, and Sikkim, and an August 2023 flood from Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska.

APA

Climate Central (2025). Year of the Glacier. https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-matters/year-of-the-glacier-2025

Chicago

Climate Central. Year of the Glacier. 2025. https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-matters/year-of-the-glacier-2025.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Central |title=Year of the Glacier |date=29 January 2025 |url=https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-matters/year-of-the-glacier-2025 |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatecentral2025year, author = {{Climate Central}}, title = {{Year of the Glacier}}, institution = {Climate Central}, year = {2025}, month = jan, url = {https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-matters/year-of-the-glacier-2025}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }