2025: The International Year of Glacier Preservation
(Al Hima Magazine 6th Edition)
Around 70% of the global freshwater is stored in glaciers and ice sheets, however these ice formations are rapidly retreating due to climate disruption. 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.
%10
Today, glaciers cover around 10% of the Earth’s total land area. During the last ice age they covered 32%. Earth’s two ice sheets cover most of Greenland and Antarctica and make up more than 99% of the world’s glacial ice. If climate change caused these two ice sheets to melt, they would increase sea level by approximately 70 meters. Photo: Antarctica King penguins.
King penguins do not build nests; instead, they incubate their eggs under a fold of skin on their feet. Both parents take turns incubating the egg while the other goes hunting. The chicks remain covered in their brown down feathers until they reach one year of age, at which point they acquire their adult coloring.
200,000
There are more than 200,000 glaciers in the world. Photo: Cows graze near ancient relics of the highest altitude Great Wall at Gansu Province in China
2,000,000,000
More than 2 billion people rely on melt from glaciers and snow for their freshwater. Glaciers hold profound cultural and spiritual significance for indigenous peoples.
130
For up to more than 130 years, some glaciers around the globe have been systematically monitored with annual measurements in the field, and more recently by remote sensing techniques.
7,000
With more than 7,000 glaciers, Pakistan is known as the third pole. However, the glaciers are melting at an alarming rate, and glacial lake outbursts cause disastrous floods every year.
