The UN agency warned that several UNESCO World Heritage sites, including Yellowstone and Kilimanjaro National Park, are likely to lose their glaciers by the year 2050 and asked nations to act swiftly to protect the remaining ones.
A warning was issued after an analysis of 18,600 glaciers at 50 World Heritage Sites
A warning was issued after an analysis of 18,600 glaciers at 50 World Heritage Sites, covering a total area of 66,000 square kilometers (25,000 square miles), revealed that glaciers at a third of the sites were “condemned to perish.”
The study “shows these glaciers have been retreating at an accelerated rate since 2000 due to CO2 emissions, which are warming temperatures”, UNESCO said.
The 58 billion tonnes of ice lost annually by the glaciers, or about 5% of the estimated rise in sea level, is equivalent to the combined annual water needs of France and Spain.
“Glaciers in a third of the 50 World Heritage sites are condemned to disappear by 2050, regardless of efforts to limit temperature increases,” UNESCO said.
“This report is a call to action”
“But it is still possible to save the glaciers in the remaining two-thirds of sites if the rise in temperatures does not exceed 1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial period.”
Although nations have pledged to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels, this goal is likely to be missed given present emission patterns.
“This report is a call to action,” said UNESCO head Audrey Azoulay, ahead of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt starting on Monday.
“Only a rapid reduction in our CO2 emissions levels can save glaciers and the exceptional biodiversity that depends on them. COP27 will have a crucial role to help find solutions to this issue.
The melting of ice is one of the top 10 climate change-related worries
All of Africa’s World Heritage Sites, including Mount Kenya and Kilimanjaro National Park, would probably be glacier-free by the year 2050, according to UNESCO.
Some of the glaciers in Europe’s Pyrenees and Dolomites may also be gone in three decades.
The glaciers in Yosemite and Yellowstone, two American national parks, shared the same characteristics.
The melting of ice and snow is one of the top 10 climate change-related worries, according to research from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published in February.