Water Security: Melting Glaciers: What You Need To Know

Water Security is National Security

Water resources and how they are managed impact almost all aspects of society and the economy, in particular health, food production and security, domestic water supply and sanitation, energy, industry, and the functioning of ecosystems. Under present climate variability, water stress is already high, particularly in many developing countries, and climate change adds even more urgency for action. Without improved water resources management, the progress towards poverty reduction targets, the Millennium Development Goals, and sustainable development in all its economic, social and environ- mental dimensions, will be jeopardized. UN Water.Org

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Melting Glaciers: What You Need To Know

If you haven’t already, take a look at this eye-opening blog post about an expedition into the mountains of Nepal. For people in the region, climate change isn’t just an abstract worry; they live with a real and everyday concern about dangerous flash floods that can result from melting glaciers.

Sadly, this is a danger that won’t go away soon. Glaciers all over the world areshrinking. This sustained ice loss is both a natural indicator that the world is warmingand a warning that local communities are at risk. For people inland, melting glaciers can mean flash floods, landslides and reduced drinking water. For people on the coast, melting glaciers mean rising seas.

We’re learning more about glacial retreat all the time. Recently, a new study was released that received a great deal of media attention. It found that mountain glaciers and polar ice

sheets lost more than 530 gigatons of ice per year from 2003 to 2010, raising average global sea levels more than 1 centimeter. This study is consistent with other estimates of the contribution of land ice to sea level rise. In other words, not that surprising. More