Loss of glaciers threatens life on the planet

If the Amazon serves as the planet's lungs, glaciers provide the world population with freshwater that sustains life together with oxygen. A piece of highly disconcerting news is that following the ravage of the Amazon, the 275,000 glaciers in all 19 regions of the world have shrunk due to climate change for the third consecutive year. Five of the last six years have witnessed the most rapid shrinking of glaciers, 2023 being the worst year for this alarming phenomenon. The year 2024 is the fourth worst in order since the maintenance of glacier record started in 1975.

The message is clear. Unless the sources of sweet water can be preserved from rapid melting, the survival of the humankind will be at stake. Called the Earth's frozen 'water tower', the glaciers together with ice caps store 68.7 per cent of the world's fresh water. But the ice sheets of the Antarctic and Greenland have 99 per cent share of the freshwater ice of the planet. This means that only 1.0 per cent of the freshwater obtained from the glaciers and ice caps has been in use for the more than 8.0 billion population of the world. Then only 1.2 per cent of the freshwater is surface water that meets most of life's requirements. According to the World Water Council, less than 1.0 per cent of freshwater is readily usable by people. No wonder that 2.0 billion people have no access to clean drinking water.

Indisputably, the global warming is responsible for rapid melting of the glaciers. Well, in summer the glaciers which are present in every continent except Australia must thaw in order to replenish the decline in water flows that starts in the winter when water freezes to make up for lost mass and continues up to late summer. If the environmental cycle did not maintain such a seasonal routine, life on the planet would be anything but what it is now. However, this routine is under threat with the excessive thawing of the glaciers and the loss of their masses. The world Meteorological Organisation (WMO), on calculation from data generated by the Swiss-based World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) finds that the glaciers together lost 450 billion tons of mass in 2024 alone.

It unfolds a dire prospect, especially for some regions. Glaciers in western Canada, the United States, the Scandinavia, central Europe the Caucasus and New Zealand are predicted to disappear within this millennium if the global warming continues at the current rate. Earlier, similar apprehension was expressed over the sustainability of the Himalayan glaciers. Rapid melting of glaciers raises the spectre of great floods, landslides and avalanches. However, melting of a portion of the glaciers at a reasonable level is necessary to maintain the water levels in rivers and other water bodies. Rain and water from the glaciers together make up for the depletion of water in rivers that flow through the lower riparian regions to meet the seas or oceans. Seas and oceans send clouds that gather at the peaks of mountains to form ice caps and glaciers.

This simple but inexorable process gives life its sustenance on this planet. If this process is upset due to global warming, the future of mankind is sure to be imperilled. Scientists have tried to impress upon political leaders not only to lessen the use of fossil fuels responsible for producing greenhouse gas, but also focus on limiting temperature to 1.5 degree Celsius above the pre-industrial levels. But the developed industrial nations responsible for major environmental pollution are yet to comply with the Paris Agreement. With Trump back in power, the future of the agreement is in jeopardy because the man in White House does not believe in global warming and is unconvinced of the scientific evidences. His energy policy on massively using fossil fuels to strengthen American economy throws the prospect of lowering global temperature into uncertainty. Thus glaciers stand no chance of regaining their masses.

nilratanhalder2000@yahoo.com