INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF GLACIERS

GS1: Geography

The United Nations has declared 2025 as the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation to highlight the importance of glaciers and the need for climate action. Glaciers hold 70% of the world’s freshwater, and their rapid melting threatens water supplies, raises sea levels, and risks coastal areas.

What Are Glaciers?

• Large ice masses formed from snow that moves under gravity.
• Around 275,000 glaciers exist globally, crucial for water cycles and ecosystems.

Impact of Melting Glaciers

• Melting glaciers contribute to rising sea levels and create glacial lakes, which can cause dangerous floods (GLOFs).
• Melting ice in polar regions disrupts ecosystems and worsens sea level rise.

Himalayan Glaciers

• The Hindu Kush Himalaya, or “Third Pole,” holds the largest concentration of glaciers outside polar regions.
• Over 1.3 billion people rely on these glaciers for water and agriculture, but they are rapidly melting due to climate change.

Glacier Behavior

• Glaciers in the Western Himalayas are retreating quickly, while those in the Karakoram region have remained stable since the 1970s, a phenomenon known as the “Karakoram Anomaly.”
• Factors like altitude and topography influence how glaciers respond to rising temperatures.

Global and National Responses

• The UN has launched the “Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences” (2025-2034) to enhance glacier research.
• India has also introduced the National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem to address the impacts of climate change.