By Vibhu Mishra, UN News
The United Nations Secretary-General warned on May 15 that Himalayan glaciers are “caving in,” urging immediate action to address the climate crisis, especially in the world’s most fragile ecosystems.
António Guterres issued the warning in a video message to the inaugural “Everest Dialogue,” convened by the Government of Nepal in Kathmandu. The international platform convened ministers, parliamentarians, climate experts, and civil society to focus on climate change, mountain ecosystems, and sustainability.
“Nepal today is on thin ice, losing close to one-third of its ice in just over 30 years. And your glaciers have melted 65 per cent faster in the last decade than in the one before,” he said.
Glaciers in the region have served for centuries as vital freshwater reservoirs. Their accelerated melt now threatens not only local communities but vast populations downstream who rely on Himalayan-fed rivers. Reduced water flow in river systems such as the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Indus threatens not only water but also food production for nearly two billion people across South Asia.
Combined with saltwater intrusion, this could trigger collapsing deltas and mass displacement, the UN chief warned: “We would see low-lying countries and communities erased forever.”
In his message, Mr. Guterres reiterated his call on the world to “stop the madness” of fossil fuel-driven global warming, stressing that the world must act without delay to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C.
The 1.5°C target was set by the Paris Agreement on climate change, with the biggest emitters required to lead the way. This includes investing in renewable energy, fulfilling the $1.3 trillion climate finance goal agreed at COP29, doubling adaptation finance to at least $40 billion this year as pledged by developed countries, and providing robust, sustained support to the Loss and Damage Fund.
Mountain glaciers act as a freshwater resource for millions of people worldwide and lock up enough water to raise global sea-levels by 32cm (13in) if they melted entirely. Mount Kenya, one of the mountains on the African continent with glaciers, could become one of the first to turn entirely ice-free in modern times as soon as 2030.
A satellite study last year, published in the journal Environmental Research: Climate, found that the surface area of the ice on Mount Kenya was just 4.2 percent of the size compared with the first reliable observations in 1900.
That is in keeping with other African mountains, including the highest, Mount Kilimanjaro, which has just 8.6 percent of its ice surface left, according to the study.
