Glaciers: the health gauge of the planet 

In March there was the World Day for Glaciers. But the climate situation of perennial glaciers has truly gone far beyond any pessimistic forecasts. Thus, the United Nations decided to devote not only a specific day to global information and involvement, but instead the whole of 2025 to the preservation of the planet's approximately 275,000 officially recognized glaciers. This is not a scenic problem. It is also, of course, because mountains are often remembered for perennial ice and mountain views are part of the individual and collective memory of the local people and indeed even the populations of certain states or regions. But it is first and foremost an environmental problem and, in some specific cases and regions, also an energy and health problem.

The role of glaciers in the balance of our planet

Glaciers are on the one hand a real and living gauge of the health of the surrounding environment, and on the other hand they provide a total of 60 percent of the fresh water that we humans draw from the mountains, for drinking or irrigating edible food, and for livestock farming. They are also a source of hydropower, of course; and also for sanitation, although in this area modern water treatment systems have proved very efficient in enabling the reuse of all types of water, though we are talking about Switzerland or Scandinavia and certainly not the Andes or India.
When it comes to glaciers, there is also little controversy between those who believe in the impact of climate change and the climate skeptics. It is clear to the naked eye, comparing photographs from the pioneers of silver nitrate photography in the late 1800s or early 1900s and today's photos or far more precise drone footage. Measuring glaciers is entrusted both national institutes and to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which found, based on the latest statistics from 2024, a loss of square kilometers of perennial ice in 96 percent of the 275,000 glaciers recorded. The perennial snow loss rates range from 26 to 41 percent, in certain glaciers more exposed to weather conditions in recent years, compared to 2015 measurements.
 

Research

We know for a fact that 2024 was the warmest year since these measurements began, with surface temperature increases over 1.5 degrees Celsius for the first time since the Industrial Revolution. Copernicus Climate Change Service C3S performs these surveys on behalf of the European Commission together with the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and has deemed 2024 the warmest year on average since 1850. The impact has varied around the world: it depends on winds, latitudes, and sea currents. However, there is no doubt that these increasing and converging changes in climatic conditions from 2015 to the present are, from a statistical point of view, directly proportional to the decreases in ice cover measured by the WMO. This means not only the loss of water but also the risk of flooding in countries where there is less control over both the measurability of glaciers and safety measures among mountain and valley communities.

The case of Switzerland

To take an example, we can look at Switzerland, one of the wealthiest nations and also one of the most closely monitored and attentive countries, with information provided by the United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization. The European Alps are certainly one of the regions worst affected by climate change because they are located in a confined space and have been surrounded by changes in urban, economic, and environmental structuring for many years (or rather, centuries). Switzerland has cataloged 1,400 glaciers, and in 2024, about 2.4 percent of the existing area was reported to have disappeared, while it had already lost 10 percent of the total mass between 2022 and 2023.

S

witzerland’s national institute in charge of monitoring these changes has launched a protection plan that also focuses on a series of actions, such as covering glacier boundaries with a tarpaulin made from plant fiber—thus with no release of microplastic—to protect the edge of the glacier, which is the part most vulnerable to melting. The method does work, but experts also tell us that so far in Switzerland, these “blankets” only cover less than 1 percent of the area of the glaciers. And there is the cost: more or less 5 euro per square meter. According to the proponents of this method, it would take one billion euro to even think of trying to cover all 1,400 glaciers in the Four Cantons; and that's not counting the cost of manpower and follow-up monitoring. Cooperation and comparison are the basis of European activities, but what about those faraway places whose glaciers are the stuff of legends? Think of the great Himalayan range. The health of these mountains affects communities in India, Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as of course Nepal (and we could of course add Tibet and also China). For these communities, this is the real source of their water, and we are talking about some 240 million people living in the mountains and more than 1.6 billion in the valleys, directly linked to the conditions of these snowy peaks, which have suffered more than all the rest in the very warm 2024. The recorded snow persistence was over 18 percent lower than in the previous year, consistent with a decline that has been ongoing for nearly two decades. This means less ice cover, less snow melt, and less water reaching the villages; as well as less water in the twelve major rivers that flow from the mountain range, also affecting the micro village fisheries. It is just that here, in these regions, cooperation between states is also difficult, as we know, and geopolitics does not help to imagine joint initiatives except among scientific communities.
Glaciers are the thermometer that measures the fever of the planet. It is up to the patient, the world, and the doctors, the people of the world, to decide to start treatment. But we can't say we don't know what's going on: this is the United Nations' message for 2025, the year of the glaciers of the world.