Unprecedented Rates of Mountain Glacier Melting

Ambition to Halt Glaciers Retreat

During its visit to the Everest region in Nepal, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called on the world to “stop the madness” of climate change, warning that the “disappearance of glaciers altogether” looms even larger.

“The world cannot wait!” – UN chief, @antonioguterres today from the base of Mt. Everest, on the terrible impact of the climate crisis on the Himalayas. pic.twitter.com/leDo9ScwoJ

— UN News (@UN_News_Centre) October 30, 2023
Ice Loss Due to Climate Change

Ice mass covers 10% of the Earth land surface (Antarctic ice sheet 8.3%, Greenland ice sheet 1.2%, glaciers and ice caps 0.5%), and its loss is a primary marker of climate change. The decrease has accelerated in recent decades and is now reaching concerning levels. As highlighted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis, the widespread retreat of glaciers since 1950 has not been seen in at least 2000 years.

This glacial melting has potentially dramatic consequences not only from a social and cultural point of view but also because glaciers themselves regulate the climate. As a result, the gradual disappearance of glaciers contributes to rising sea levels and an increased risk of drought in densely populated plains. Glacial melting poses various other natural risks, including falling solid materials or the formation of new bodies of water. Glaciers also serve as accumulators of atmospheric pollution, which is then released when glaciers melt.

Swiss Ice Cave with unreal structures. © 2020 ExpediTom, Mike K | Cover image : A hiker discovers a huge cave of ice on the Glacier de Zinal, outside the village of Zinal, Switzerland © 2020 ALPSINSIGHT

The Cross-Chapter Paper 5: Mountains — featured in the IPCC Working Group II contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability — was first approved by the Panel on 28 February 2022 and published in its final version in August 2022. This research shows that the pace of glacial retreat is significantly faster than what had been stated in the 2019 IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate. The IPCC now states with high confidence that many small low-elevation glaciers worldwide will lose more than half their mass even at 1.5°C of warming. The IPCC projections are sufficiently strong to state with medium confidence that low-emission scenarios would preserve around half the current ice mass in low and mid-latitude mountains.

The climate system, the cryosphere, and the hydrological system are deeply intertwined. For example, changes in air temperature cause glaciers to melt, directly affecting streamflow during the summer months. In addition, the related consequences for the ecosystem and human society

IPCC Special Report: The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate

Risks in mountain regions are expected to further increase over the course of this century with accelerated climate change negatively affecting biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being. Many mountain regions have already witnessed radical glacier loss with many low elevation and small glaciers around the world – including all of Africa’s remaining glaciers – at risk of disappearing within this century.

Kilimanjaro’s glaciers are quickly melting due to changes in weather conditions such as humidity and warmer air.
Status of Glaciers in 2024

According to the WMO State of Global Water Resources report 2024 in 2024, glaciers lost 450 Gt of water, which is equivalent to 1.2 mm of contribution to global mean sea-level rise. In 2024, for the third consecutive year, all glaciated regions in the world reported ice loss, signalling a slight improvement from 2023, where a record 600 Gigatonnes (Gt) of water, the largest mass loss registered in the last five decades, was registered.

As the annual mass balance of a glacier, defined as the difference between winter snow accumulation (mass gain) and summer melt (mass loss), reflects atmospheric conditions and serves as a key indicator of climate change, global net loss of glacier mass contributes to sea level rise and seasonal melting of ice and snow contributes to runoff. The melting of natural glaciers is an essential source of water for basins during specific months, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Nevertheless, as climate change and planetary warming affect glaciers, they tend to reach a “peak water” point, after which it decline as glacier volumes shrink. The scenario of disappearing glaciers will have important hydrological consequences.

More resources

Findings of the European State of the Climate 2024

Glaciers in all European regions saw a net loss of ice in 2024
Over the last decade, central Europe is one of the regions of the world where glaciers are receding the fastest, alongside Iceland, the southern Andes, Alaska, western Canada and the USA. 2024 was another exceptional year in the Alps, with an average ice thickness loss of 1.2 m. Although large, this is considerably less than the extreme losses observed in 2022 (3.6 m) and 2023 (2.4 m).

Climate Tipping Points

The 2019 IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate defines a tipping point as:

A level of change in system properties beyond which a system reorganises, often in a non-linear manner, and does not return to the initial state even if the drivers of the change are abated. For the climate system, the term refers to a critical threshold at which global or regional climate changes from one stable state to another stable state.

According to the 2019 UNEP study Temperature rise is ‘locked-in’ for the coming decades in the Arctic, the tipping point has already been reached. As a result of melting permafrost, methane (and other short-lived climate pollutants) could be released faster than expected. An albedo-positive ice shield has been lost, resulting in a powerful feedback loop pushing temperatures ever higher. The accelerating climate instability in the polar region is likely to affect the global climate, exceeding previous predictions of when the global tilt will occur.

Armstrong McKay et al. published in Science, in September 2022, an updated assessment of the most important climate tipping elements and their potential tipping points – 16 identified, including their temperature thresholds, time scales, and impacts. Their analysis indicates that at 1.5°C of heating, the minimum rise now expected, four of the five tipping points move from being possible to likely, and an additional five tipping points become possible, including the loss of almost all mountain glaciers.

The government of Switzerland is proposing to the IPCC to elaborate a Special Report on “Climate Tipping Points and their Implications for Habitability and Resources”, to be prepared in the framework of the IPCC’s 7th Assessment Cycle, scheduled to start in 2023. All three IPCC Working Groups are expected to contribute to this Special Report, making it a comprehensive assessment of the topic. The timing of the approval of the report should take place around 2026 in order to serve as the basis for the second UNFCCC Global Stocktake from 2026 to 2028, and well before the second commitment period under the Paris Agreement in 2030.

More on mountain permafrost

Climate, Glaciers and Permafrost in the Swiss Alps 2050

International Cooperation
International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation

At the 77th regular session of the UN General Assembly, the General Assembly decided to declare 2025 the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation and to proclaim 21 March of each year the World Day for Glaciers, to be observed starting in 2025. Recognizing that, in many high mountain areas, glacier retreat and permafrost thaw are projected to further decrease the stability of slopes, and that the incidences of floods owing to glacier lake outburst or rain-on-snow, landslides and snow avalanches are projected to increase and occur in new locations or different seasons, the observations aim at boosting the creation of a worldwide inventory of existing perennial ice and snow masses.

The International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation 2025 (IYGP 2025) will be officially launched on 21 January 2025 at the WMO Headquarters in Geneva.

World Day for Glaciers

World Day for Glaciers was observed for the first time on 21 March 2025, highlighting the various impacts of glacier changes on downstream communities and ecosystems, and the urgent need for developing water-related adaptation strategies in areas affected by shrinking or disappearing glaciers, more transboundary cooperation and community engagement, alongside continued support for ambitious reductions in fossil fuel consumption. Key moments of the celebration included the launch of the UN World Water Development Report Mountains and glaciers – Water towers by UN Water and UNESCO.

The 2026 UN Celebration of the World Day for Glaciers will take place on 18 and 19 March 2026 at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. will close the IYGP 2025, present its outcomes, and introduce the first governance and action architecture of the Decade, alongside World Water Day high-level sessions and partner-led side events. The Celebration will also announce and launch of the 2026 UN World Water Development Report, on 19 March 2026, examining the connections between water access and gender equality, assessing progress, and demonstrating how evidence-based policy can drive action for the benefit of all.

Glacier Monitoring

Worldwide collection of information about ongoing glacier changes started in August 1894, with the foundation of the International Glacier Commission at the 6th International Geological Congress, in Zurich.

The Second World Climate Conference in 1990 called for the urgent establishment of a coordinated climate monitoring system. As a consequence, the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) and the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS) were established in 1992 and 1996, respectively, under the auspices of FAO, ICSU, UNEP, UNESCO, and WMO. Within GCOS/GTOS the Terrestrial Observation Panel for Climate (TOPC) was created to design a global observing strategy and set in place a Global Terrestrial Network (GTN) for all Essential Climate Variables (ECV) in the terrestrial domain in support of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Today, glacier monitoring is coordinated within the framework of the Global Terrestrial Network for Glaciers (GTN-G), a worldwide collaboration network in more than 40 countries run by the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS), the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), and the Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) initiative.

High Mountain Summit

The WMO High Mountain Summit, held in Geneva in October 2019, concluded with a Call to Action and a roadmap of priority activities. The priority actions aim to support more sustainable development, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.

The summit highlighted that Earth system processes over complex mountain terrain are insufficiently observed and understood to confidently model their behaviour. Consequently, the resulting impacts of those changes on people and economies have not been well-articulated in major international policy frameworks such as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction or the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. As water security is becoming one of the greatest challenges for humanity, and a source of political tension within and between nations, the absence of such references makes the task of developing and implementing relevant policies much more difficult.

The findings of the IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate dedicated chapter on high mountain areas convey a sense of urgency in addressing the hydro-climatic changes in high mountains, their impacts and their downstream effects.

Mountain Adaptation Programs

UNEP aims to tackle the climate crisis and – in line with the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration – prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of mountain ecosystems, and support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 15. Under the Adaptation at Altitude programme, financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), partners, including UNEP have identified innovative mountain adaptation solutions around the globe and bring together policy representatives from mountainous countries to share plans for improving the resilience of people upstream and downstream.

In support of the International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development 2022, more global efforts are needed to build resilient mountain communities and foster sustainable mountain development. With global warming above 1.5 °C, the need for adaptation in mountains becomes a key priority (IPCC 2022). Besides the Adaptation Gap Report, which urgently calls for climate adaptation planning, finance and implementation to be stepped up, UNEP published two booklets on concrete and innovative mountain adaptation solutions in East Africa and the South Caucasus, as part of the Adaptation at Altitude programme.

One Planet – Polar Summit 2023

On 10 November during the One Planet – Polar Summit, as part of the Paris Peace Forum, at the initiative of the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, and in partnership with WMO and UNESCO a joint Paris Call for Glaciers and Poles – Declaration for the One Planet – Polar Summit was launched. The summit called for urgent action to cut greenhouse gas emissions, for more in-depth scientific research on the cryosphere, and for better integration of the effects of the retreat of the cryosphere into policy-making. The declaration pledged support for a United Nations Decade on Polar and Glacier Sciences, to start in 2025 – which is the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation – and feed into the Fifth International Polar Year in 2032-33. On the occasion of the One Planet Polar Summit, France and Netherlands joined with other countries the ‘Ambition on Melting Ice (AMI) high-level group: on Sea-level Rise and Mountain Water Resources’, launched November 16, 2022. → Read the Recommendations of Civil Society Organizations on the Occasion of the One Planet – Polar Summit 2023.

BRS Conventions Advocate for Clean Mountains and Glaciers

The Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm (BRS) announced at its 2025 COPs German World Cup alpine ski legend and environmental advocate Felix Neureuther as the new BRS conventions Advocate for Clean Mountains and Glaciers. A lifelong environmental advocate, Felix Neureuther brings his passion for alpine conservation to the global stage, raising awareness about the threats of plastic and chemical pollution in mountain and glacier ecosystems.

High-Level International Conference on Glaciers’ Preservation

The High-Level International Conference on Glaciers’ Preservation, co-sponsored by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), will take place on 29 to 31 May 2025 in Dushanbe, Republic of Tajikistan to highlight the vital role of glaciers in maintaining global ecological balance and addressing water-related challenges. With high participation from international organizations and academia, the Conference will support the implementation of UN resolutions on the “International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation 2025” and the “Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences, 2025–2034”, by mobilizing resources and fostering international cooperation. It seeks to strengthen global partnerships among governments, scientists, civil society, and other stakeholders, with a focus on enhancing transboundary collaboration to preserve glaciers and their socio-economic benefits.

The Role of Geneva

Climate change is deeply linked to biodiversity loss, human rights, economic prosperity, trade, health, and many other issues at the heart of multilateral processes in Geneva. These multilateral processes can be used to foster international cooperation on glacier loss, as highlighted in the examples below.

Organizations are listed in alphabetical order.

Adaptation at Altitude Programme

The Adaptation at Altitude is a collaborative programme launched and co-supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The programme aims to increase the resilience and adaptive capacity of mountain communities and ecosystems.

It seeks to foster exchange of such information among the mountain areas of the world to help in the search for short-and long-term solutions to the problems arising from climate change.

Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions | BRS Conventions

The Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions launched the “Plastic Waste in Remote and Mountainous Areas” project in 2019, supported by France, Germany, and Norway, to address plastic waste in fragile ecosystems. The project has advanced through data collection, a baseline report, and implementation across nine countries, focusing on waste management, clean-up campaigns, policy alignment with Basel Convention amendments, and national inventories. At the 2025 BRSs COPs, the BRS Secretariat nominated German World Cup alpine ski legend and environmental advocate Felix Neureuther as the new BRS conventions Advocate for Clean Mountains and Glaciers.

Convention on Wetlands | Ramsar Convention

The Convention on Wetlands aims to ensure the conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local and national actions and international cooperation, as a contribution towards achieving sustainable development throughout the world. Several Wetlands of International Importance rely directly on glaciers, either because they were formed by past glaciation or because they continue to be fed by glacial melt. These sites are examples of the important role glaciers play in global wetland conservation. Glaciers recognized as Wetlands of International Importance, some located in Switzerland, are shrinking at an alarming rate. The loss of glaciers means more than just disappearing ice—it means weaker rivers and downstream water levels, which lead to drier, unhealthier wetlands, and declining biodiversity. Preserving glacial wetlands is important for securing water for millions of species, including humans. Glaciers are formidable masses of ice, but they are also wetlands in their own right—deserving of the same protection as any marsh, peatland, or river.

Geneva Climate Change Consultation Group | GeCCco

GeCCco gathers civil society organizations working in Geneva to bring forward the human rights issues raised by climate change and to introduce these climate change issues in the work of the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Bodies. The GeCCco also keeps a close eye on the UNFCCC processes thanks to the NGO Working Group on Human Rights and Climate Change, the oldest and main coalition on this matter, to which a number of the participating organizations are also member.

Group on Earth Observations | GEO

Earth observations relevant to climate action are not limited to weather or climate, but are much broader and include terrestrial and socio-economic variables.GEO makes available Earth observations in support of effective policy responses for climate change adaptation, mitigation and other specific provisions, working with partners to enhance global observation systems for climate action. GEO will be present at COP26 with a series of events to promote the role of Earth observations in providing actionable information for climate adaptation and mitigation.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change | IPCC

The IPCC was set up to provide an objective source of scientific information. In 2013, the IPCC provided more clarity about the role of human activities in climate change when it released its Fifth Assessment Report. The IPCC also published the Cryosphere Services to Support SDGs in High Mountains report, which indicates trade-offs and synergies must be considered to achieve the 2030 SDG agenda in high mountains.

International Glacier Film Festival

The International Film Festival on Glaciers (FIFG) is an opportunity to sound the alarm on the deadly consequences of global warming. The 6th International Film Festival on Glaciers will focus on the adaptability of cities to global warming.

International Union for Conservation of Nature | IUCN

The IUCN assesses the impacts of climate change on species and ecosystems. Through its work on ecosystem-based mitigation, adaptation and disaster risk reduction, it also highlights the important role of nature-based solutions to climate change. It also works to ensure that climate policy and action are gender-responsive, socially inclusive and take into account to the needs of the most vulnerable.

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights | OHCHR, UN Human Rights

As the leading UN entity on human rights, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR, UN Human Rights) aims to provide guidance that encourages policy coherence and ensures that climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts are adequate, sufficiently ambitious, non-discriminatory and compliant with human rights obligations. Guided by principles and standards derived from international human rights law, especially the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the core universal human rights treaties, as well as the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement on climate change, UN Human Rights aim to to help States, businesses and other duty-bearers meet this expectation. OHCHR has published Key Messages on Human Rights and Climate Change outlining key human rights obligations in the context of climate change.

Since 2015, as mandated by the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), OHCHR has also organized annual panel discussions on climate change at HRC, covering diverse subjects such as climate change and the rights of the child; human rights, climate change and human mobility; climate change and the effective enjoyment of the right to health; gender-responsive climate action; and the impacts of climate change on the rights of persons with disabilities. The Office has also produced analytical studies on all these subjects.

Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council

As independent human rights experts with mandates to report and advise on human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective, the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council make links with their own mandates with issues on climate change and human rights. This includes work achieved when they undertake country visits; act on individual cases and concerns of a broader, structural nature by sending communications to States and others in which they bring alleged violations or abuses to their attention; conduct thematic studies and convene expert consultations, contribute to the development of international human rights standards, engage in advocacy, raise public awareness, and provide advice for technical cooperation. Since 2008, the Special Procedures mechanisms have been actively involved in addressing the human rights impacts of climate change. → Consult reports by Special Procedures & other mechanisms addressing human rights and climate change.

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation | SDC

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation’s activities fall under the Blue Peace initiative. This was co-initiated by Switzerland and advocates peaceful water management in various regions of the world. In Central Asia the SDC can benefit from a wide network of international and regional partners who are also active in the water sector.

Swiss Federal Office for the Environment | FOEN

Switzerland’s glaciers are monitored in a systematic manner by the scientific community and the government, who signed an agreement governing the glacier monitoring. As a result, 105 glaciers will be monitored in the long term. The related data for the fields of climate, water, natural hazards and the environment will be made available to a wide audience on an internet platform. The glaciers have been melting for decades due to climate warming, therefore their monitoring is very important.

The Geneva Cryosphere Hub

The Geneva Cryosphere Hub is the link between Switzerland and the pavilion which will be dedicated to the cryosphere at the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow from November 1–12, 2021.

The Hub aims at raising awareness about the critical role played by the Cryosphere, to discuss latest scientific evidence on cryosphere processes and, ultimately, at contributing to enhancing the ambition level to achieve tangible outcomes at COP26.

UNEP/GRID-Geneva

The Global Resource Information Database – Geneva (GRID-Geneva), is a partnership between the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) and the University of Geneva (UniGe). With a team of 20 Environment Data Scientist, GRID-Geneva main role is to transform data into information and knowledge to support the decision making process related to environmental issues. Glaciers are a critical component of the earth system. An environmental report published by GRID shows how glaciers are retreating and melting faster than they should.

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe | UNECE

The UNECE region is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for 34% of the world’s CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion. The people of the region are increasingly feeling the impacts of climate change – from wildfires to flooding, heatwaves and drought. Through its norms, standards, conventions and policy assistance, UNECE provides key tools supporting countries in their climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts.

United Nations Environment Programme Regional Office and Climate Finance Unit | UNEP

The work of UNEP on climate action cuts across the fields of science, policy, technology and finance. It empowers countries to pursue low-emission development and boost their capacity to adapt and be resilient to climate heating. UNEP is also working to implement the Paris Agreement and its contributions include bringing science to policymakers, playing a leading role in transformative global partnerships, and helping dozens of countries develop national plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, UNEP equips countries to seize new investment opportunities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and supports the development of new finance models to accelerate the transition to a green economy. Through the Climate Finance Unit, UNEP also focuses on supporting developing countries to access climate finance (directly and through accredited entities) from the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and the Adaptation Fund (AF) as well as through other bilateral or multilateral public sources.

United Nations Human Rights Council | HRC

The Human Rights Council (HRC) has contributed to raising awareness of the links between human rights and climate change by successive and targeted clarifications of the ways climate change affects human rights, including through the adoption of a series of resolutions related to climate change and human rights, including the yearly resolution on human rights and climate change, and the resolution establishing the mandate of a Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change (A/HRC/RES/48/14) in 2021.

University of Geneva

The UNIGE is involved in glaciers and mountain research as the Department F.-A. Forel for environmental and aquatic sciences. A Research at UNIGE focuses on melting glaciers in Central Asia as well as water resources

World Economic Forum | WEF

The WEF Climate Change Intelligence is a visual representation of climate change and provides an overview and the key trends affecting it, along with summaries and links to the latest research and analysis on each of the trends.

World Meteorological Organization | WMO

The WMO helps its members to monitor the Earth’s climate on a global scale so that reliable information is available to support evidence-based decision-making on how to best adapt to a changing climate and manage risks associated with climate variability and extremes.

WMO supports events such as the First World Virtual High Mountain Summit, which brought together more than 50 participants to discuss biodiversity and ecosystem services as well as climate variability.

WWF

WWF works to tackle the climate crisis in a variety of ways. From encouraging governments to implement more ambitious climate policies, to supporting the shift to renewable energy, to working with cities, businesses and communities to create a climate-resilient, net-zero future. WWF is involved in Global warming and impact mountain areas in a particularly severe way, posing a very serious threat to Alpine nature.

Zoï Environment Network

Zoï Environment Network is a non-profit environmental organization driven by our belief that access to information lies at the heart of democracy and plays a prominent role in the quest to build sustainable societies. The team also works to enable dialogue, develop skills and build capacity in government, academia and civil society.

Several international actors are involved in the fight against climate change in Geneva.

Mobilizing Climate Actors in International Geneva

Learning

Unprecedented Rates of Mountain Glacier Melting

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