UNESCO: Glaciers on Kilimanjaro and Yellowstone to disappear by 2050; countries urged to take immediate action

Several UNESCO World Heritage sites, including Yellowstone and Kilimanjaro National Park, will likely lose their glaciers by the year 2050, the UN body warnedand urged countries to take immediate action to safeguard the remaining ones.

A survey of 18,600 glaciers at 50 World Heritage Sites, totaling over 66,000 square kilometres (25,000 square miles), concluded that glaciers at a third of the sites were "condemned to perish," prompting the warning.

The study "shows these glaciers have been retreating at an accelerated rate since 2000 due to CO2 emissions, which are warming temperatures", UNESCO said.

According to the EPA, the glaciers were losing 58 billion tonnes of ice year, or around five percent of the reported rise in sea level, which is equal to the total annual water demand of France and Spain.

"Glaciers in a third of the 50 World Heritage sites are condemned to disappear by 2050, regardless of efforts to limit temperature increases," UNESCO said.

"But it is still possible to save the glaciers in the remaining two thirds of sites if the rise in temperatures does not exceed 1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial period."

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Countries have agreed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, but given current emission patterns, this target is likely to be missed.

"This report is a call to action," said UNESCO head Audrey Azoulay, ahead of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt starting on Monday.

"Only a rapid reduction in our CO2 emissions levels can save glaciers and the exceptional biodiversity that depends on them. COP27 will have a crucial role to help find solutions to this issue."

According to UNESCO, all of Africa's World Heritage Sites, including Mount Kenya and Kilimanjaro National Park, would likely be devoid of glaciers by the year 2050.

In three decades, it's likely that some of the glaciers in Europe's Pyrenees and Dolomites will also be gone.

The same was true of the glaciers in the American national parks of Yosemite and Yellowstone.

One of the top 10 concerns from climate change, according to a study from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released in February, is the melting of ice and snow.

(With inputs from agencies)

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