Global Glaciers Loss and Climate Change in the Next 20 Years: An Empirical Study of World Heritage Sites and its Implications for Climate Change

Each year, glaciers at World Heritage sites shed more than 50 billion tons of ice, equivalent to the total volume of water used in France and Spain. The glaciers have contributed more than 5% of the global sea level rise in the last 20 years.

If the temperature climbs to 4 degrees, glaciers will lose 42% of their mass, compared to 2015.

The list also includes a couple of the largest and most revered glaciers in Europe and Central Asia, including Mount Elbrus and Mount Kinabalu.

“This report brings a very powerful message in the sense that World Heritage Sites are iconic places – places that are extremely important for humanity, but especially for local communities and Indigenous peoples,” Resende told CNN. It’s an alarming message that ice loss and retreat is getting faster.

Fresh water supply for households, agriculture and industry are provided by glaciers. They take a long time to form because they get mass through rain and snow and lose it in the summer.

“As water melts, this water will accumulate in what we call glacial lakes; and as water comes, these glacial lakes might burst,” he said. catastrophic floods are something we can see very recently in Pakistan.

Shrinking glaciers will have an impact on sea level rise. The researchers project that a 1.5-degree Celsius increase in warming would see 90 millimeters (3.5 inches) of sea level rise, compared to 154 millimeters (6 inches) under a 4-degree Celsius rise.

The report comes as world leaders gather in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, next week for the UN-brokered international climate negotiations, where the focus will be on getting countries to commit to stronger fossil fuel cuts that would limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. They will also discuss plans to adapt to worsening extreme weather events including heat waves, floods and storms.

Resende said we need to unite ourselves so that the objective of 1.5 can be achieved. “The impacts might be irreversible, so this is really a pledge to take urgent action.”

The other two-thirds can still be saved — but only if global temperatures don’t exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius compared with pre-industrial times, UNESCO says.

Monitoring Glaciers in Europe and the Pyrenees: The challenge is real and we need to take into account the impact of climate change

The glaciers of Italy, France, the Pyrenees, Argentina, and New Zealand are in danger.

The melting glaciers have an impact not only on the environment, but on people, said Bruno Oberle, director-general of the International Union for Conservation of Nature in a statement released Thursday.

“This study highlights the urgent need to cut greenhouse gas emissions and invest in Nature-based Solutions, which can help mitigate climate change and allow people to better adapt to its impacts,” he added.

The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is calling for a worldwide fund for glacier monitoring and preservation that would support research, increase ties between stakeholders and implement disaster risk and early warning measures.

Satellite images have allowed scientists to get an estimate for each individual glacier, Rounce said.