UN's World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) have shared a severe update about the state of glaciers on the inaugural World Day for Glaciers.
On March 21, 2025, WMO chief Celeste Saulo, while expressing the seriousness of the situation, noted, "Preservation of glaciers is not just an environmental, economic and societal necessity: it's a matter of survival."
Besides Greenland and Antarctica, around 275,000 glaciers worldwide cover approximately 700,000 square kilometres of the planet.
The statement made by WMO also revealed that 2024 marked the third consecutive year, in which all 19 glaciers regions witnessed an extreme mass loss.
In totality, the year lost 450 billion tonnes of mass, and was declared the fourth worst year on record, the worst being 2023.
As ice sheets and glaciers store around 70 percent of the world's freshwater resources, hence their disappearance could result in the shortage of water supplies for million of people.
The immediate action to tackle this threat could be to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions.
Stefan Uhlenbrook, WMO's water and cryosphere director pointed out the restrictions, as he shared, "We can negotiate many things in the end, but we can not negotiate physical laws like the melting point of ice."
Uhlenbrook also noted that dismissing the problem could provide a short-term convenience but would not help the world get closer to the actual solution.
Notably, South Cascade Glacier in Washington state was declared the first Glacier of the year to mark the inauguration of the World Day for Glaciers.
