Glaciers Face Record Losses, UN Warns of Global Survival Threat

The first World Glacier Day highlights the urgent need for coordinated climate action as all glacial regions recorded unprecedented ice loss in 2024.

Global glaciers lost 450 billion tonnes of ice in 2024, marking the third consecutive year of record-breaking mass loss, according to the UN and WMO.
Since 1975, over 9,000 billion tonnes of ice have melted, equivalent to a block the size of Germany with a thickness of 25 meters.
The accelerated melting of glaciers threatens water supplies for billions, intensifies natural disasters, and contributes to sea-level rise, which has already risen by 10 cm in three decades.
Scientists warn that many glaciers in regions like Canada, Scandinavia, and the Andes may disappear entirely by the end of the century if current trends persist.
Calls for global climate action intensify, but concrete measures, including France's 2023 glacier protection pledge, remain largely unimplemented.