The News
Glaciers around the world lost 450 billion tonnes of mass in 2024 because of climate change, according to a United Nations report released Friday.
The report said two-thirds of all irrigated agriculture in the world is likely to be affected in some way by melting glaciers and reduced snowfall in mountain regions as a result of the climate crisis.
Developing countries are particularly vulnerable but developed countries are also at risk: Drought conditions along the Colorado River in the US — which serves around 40 million people – may be exacerbated as rising temperatures cause precipitation to fall as rain, which runs off more quickly than mountain snow.
In a separate study published Wednesday, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization said the three-year loss in glacier melt from 2022 to 2024 was the worst on record, with Norway, Sweden, Svalbard, and the Andes among the worst-affected areas.
It warned that retreating glaciers threaten the food and water supply of 2 billion people: “Preservation of glaciers is not just an environmental concern [...] it’s a matter of survival,” WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said.
It comes as global temperatures continue to rise — largely as a result of greenhouse gas emissions: 2024 was the warmest year on record and the first to surpass 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.