Explained: How The World May Lose Over 10% Of Its Glacier By 2050

Climate change has emerged as one of the biggest challenges for the entire humanity and it will unavoidably result in the loss of glaciers worldwide by 2050, including the last ones in Africa, according to a recent UNESCO report.

Within the next three decades, Mount Kilimanjaro's last glaciers, as well as those in the Alps and Yosemite National Park in the United States, will melt away. The authors assert that no matter what the world does to combat climate change, it will melt.

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Glacier retreat and disappearance was, "Among the most dramatic evidence that Earth's climate is warming,¡° said the report.

Beata Csatho, a glaciologist from the University of Buffalo told BBC, "In the middle of the 1900s, glaciers were quite stable. Then there is this incredibly fast retreat."

What does the report say?

The report used satellite data to make predictions and said that 50 UN World Heritage Sites have over 18,600 glaciers. They include well-known tourist destinations as well as places that local people consider sacred. Together, they make up almost 10% of the Earth's glacierised area.

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According to the report, between the years 2000 and 2020, up to 4.5 per cent of the observed global rise in sea level may have been caused by ice loss in World Heritage sites. These glaciers lose 58 billion tonnes of ice annually, or the same amount of water as France and Spain use in a year.

Tales Carvalho Resende, UNESCO project officer and one of the authors said that,

"We hope we might be wrong, but this is the hard science. Glaciers are one of the valuable indicators of climate change because they're visible. This is something we can really see happening."

The remaining glaciers in the rest two-thirds of UN World Heritage sites may be saved, but only if global warming is limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Who will suffer?

According to the authors of the report, indigenous people and local communities will bear the brunt of the flooding brought on by the loss of glaciers. They call for the establishment of early warning and risk-reduction disaster systems.

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Many people also rely on glaciers as their water source for domestic use and agriculture, and their loss could result in a lack of fresh water during the dry seasons. The frequency and severity of extreme weather are increasing witnessing drought, and flooding in recent decades.

Farmlands and infrastructure are frequently damaged by floods and droughts, and forest fires pose serious health risks.The majority of the land will be uninhabitable due to a lack of adequate food and water, requiring thousands of people to leave their homes and relocate.

Among various glaciers melting rapidly are Mount Kenya National Park/Natural Forest (Kenya), Pyrenees Mont Perdu (France, Spain), Rwenzori Mountains National Park (Uganda), Putorana Plateau (Russia), Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona (Switzerland), Nahanni National Park (Canada), Lorentz National Park (Indonesia), Natural System Of Wrangel Island Reserve (Russia), Kilimanjaro National Park (Tanzania) etc.

Why do glaciers matter so much?

Glaciers directly and indirectly provide the water for domestic use, agriculture, and hydropower for 50% of humanity.

Resende told Euro news, ¡°As glaciers keep retreating at an accelerated rate, glacial hazards such as glacial lake outburst floods are likely to increase and have disastrous consequences for the populations and biodiversity of entire regions downstream.¡±

¡°Such decrease in glacier runoff is likely to have negative impacts on agricultural production and food security and result in water stress that could be exacerbated by increasing demand for water due to expanding farmland to feed a growing population,¡± she added.

What is climate change?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines climate change as a change in the state of the climate that can be identified (for example, by using statistical tests) by changes in the mean and/or variability of its own properties and that lasts for a long time, typically decades or longer.

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Our climate is rapidly and continuously changing as a result of human activity. Climate is changing significantly as a result of rising temperatures, which has serious repercussions for future food security, water resources, health, and biodiversity.

Global warming, which is responsible for climate change, has increased by one degree Celsius since the industrial revolution, making the world ever warmer.Additionally, oceans have absorbed about 30% of the carbon dioxide released since the industrial revolution, making the water more acidic.

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