The latest UIAA newsletter can be read here.
Thursday 11 December is International Mountain Day.
“Glaciers matter for water, food and livelihoods in mountains and beyond”
Theme 2025: The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2025 as the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation to raise awareness on the vital role glaciers, snow and ice play in the climate system and water cycle, as well as the far-reaching impacts of rapid glacial melt. It aims to promote global collaboration, strengthen scientific research, and promote policies and actions to protect glaciers and cryospheric systems.
Glaciers and ice sheets hold around 70 percent of the world’s freshwater. Their accelerated melting represents not only an environmental crisis, but a humanitarian one, threatening agriculture, clean energy, water security and billions of peoples’ lives. Their retreat, driven by rising global temperatures, is a stark indicator of the climate crisis. Melting glaciers and thawing permafrost increase risks such as floods, glacier lake outburst floods, landslides or enhanced erosion and sediment, endangering downstream populations and critical infrastructure.
To mark IMD 2025, this topical newsletter provides a summary of recent UIAA initiatives in the fields of sustainability, glacier preservation and climate change.
