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UN raises alarm: Melting glaciers threaten food and water supplies for 2 billion people

Politiko 2025-03-21 09:55:29

UN raises alarm: Melting glaciers threaten food and water supplies for 2 billion

Melting glaciers threaten the food and water supplies of 2 billion people worldwide, the UN has warned.

According to a UNESCO report, two-thirds of all irrigated agriculture in the world could be affected in some way by the retreat of glaciers and reduced snowfall in mountainous regions, driven by the climate crisis, according to CNN.

More than 1 billion people live in mountainous regions and, of those in developing countries, up to half are already experiencing food insecurity.

This is likely to worsen, as food production in such regions depends on mountain waters, snowmelt and glaciers, according to the World Water Development Report 2025.

Developed countries are also at risk: in the US, for example, the Colorado River basin has been in drought since 2000.

The largest three-year loss of glacier mass has occurred in the past three years, the study found, with Norway, Sweden, Svalbard and the tropical Andes among the most affected areas.

East Africa has lost 80% of its glaciers, while in the Andes, a third to a half of the glaciers have melted since 1998.

Glaciers in the Alps and Pyrenees, the most affected in Europe, have shrunk by about 40% over the same period.

The decline of glaciers has had a further impact, added Abou Amani, director of water sciences at Unesco, in that the loss of ice replaces a reflective surface with dark soil that absorbs heat. “The melting of glaciers has an impact on the reflection of [solar] radiation and this will affect the entire climate system,” he warned.

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