The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) says that one third of the 18600 glaciers it monitors are set to disappear by 2050.
RH Desk
October 24
Due to global heating, some of the world’s most famous glaciers, including in the Dolomites in Italy, the Yosemite and Yellowstone parks in the United States and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania will disappear by 2050, a new report has said.
In a new report, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), which monitors some 18,600 glaciers, says that a third of those are set to disappear by 2050.
Tales Carvalho, the lead author of the report was quoted by Reuters news agency that “World Heritage glaciers lose on average some 58 billion tonnes of ice every year – equivalent to the total annual volume of water used in France and Spain together – and contribute to almost 5 percent of global observed sea-level rise.
“As glacier lakes fill up, they can burst and can cause catastrophic floods downstream,” Carvalho said, adding that the “single most important protective measure to prevent major glacier retreat worldwide would be to reduce carbon emissions drastically.”
The report said that in a business-as-usual emissions scenario, about 50 % of the World Heritage glaciers could almost entirely disappear by 2100.
