World's Glaciers are Losing Record Ice as Global Temperatures Climb, UN Says

(FILES) Alpinists climb the "Voie royale", way to go to the Mont-Blanc to the top of the glacier of Tete Rousse, a 3.200 meter peak in the French Alps, on June 30, 2011. (Photo by JEAN-PIERRE CLATOT / AFP)
(FILES) Alpinists climb the "Voie royale", way to go to the Mont-Blanc to the top of the glacier of Tete Rousse, a 3.200 meter peak in the French Alps, on June 30, 2011. (Photo by JEAN-PIERRE CLATOT / AFP)
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World's Glaciers are Losing Record Ice as Global Temperatures Climb, UN Says

(FILES) Alpinists climb the "Voie royale", way to go to the Mont-Blanc to the top of the glacier of Tete Rousse, a 3.200 meter peak in the French Alps, on June 30, 2011. (Photo by JEAN-PIERRE CLATOT / AFP)
(FILES) Alpinists climb the "Voie royale", way to go to the Mont-Blanc to the top of the glacier of Tete Rousse, a 3.200 meter peak in the French Alps, on June 30, 2011. (Photo by JEAN-PIERRE CLATOT / AFP)

Glaciers around the globe are disappearing faster than ever, with the last three-year period seeing the largest glacial mass loss on record, according to a UNESCO report released on Friday.

The 9,000 gigatons of ice lost from glaciers since 1975 are roughly equivalent to "an ice block the size of Germany with the thickness of 25 meters," Michael Zemp, director of the Switzerland-based World Glacier Monitoring Service, said during a press conference announcing the report at the UN headquarters in Geneva.

The dramatic ice loss, from the Arctic to the Alps, from South America to the Tibetan Plateau, is expected to accelerate as climate change, caused by the burning of fossil fuels, pushes global temperatures higher. This would likely exacerbate economic, environmental and social problems across the world as sea levels rise and these key water sources dwindle.

The report coincides with a UNESCO summit in Paris marking the first World Day for Glaciers, urging global action to protect glaciers around the world, Reuters said.

Zemp said that five of the last six years registered the largest losses, with glaciers losing 450 gigatons of mass in 2024 alone.

The accelerated loss has made mountain glaciers one of the largest contributors to sea level rise, putting millions at risk of devastating floods and damaging water routes that billions of people depend on for hydroelectric energy and agriculture.

Stefan Uhlenbrook, the director of water and cryosphere at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said that about 275,000 glaciers remain globally which, along with the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, comprise about 70% of the world's freshwater.

"We need to advance our scientific knowledge, we need to advance through better observing systems, through better forecasts and better early warning systems for the planet and the people," Uhlenbrook said.

DANGERS AND DEITIES

About 1.1 billion people live in mountain communities, which suffer the most immediate impacts of glacier loss, due to the increasing risks with natural hazards and unreliable water sources. The remote locations and difficult terrains also make cheap fixes difficult to come by.

Rising temperatures are expected to worsen droughts in areas that rely on snowpack for freshwater, while increasing both the severity and frequency of hazards like avalanches, landslides, flash floods and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs).

One Peruvian farmer living downstream of a retreating glacier has taken the issue to court, suing German energy giant RWE for a portion of the glacial lake's flood defenses proportionate to its historic global emissions.

"The changes we see in the field are literally heartbreaking," glaciologist Heidi Sevestre, secretariat at the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, told Reuters outside the UNESCO headquarters in Paris on Wednesday.

"Things in certain regions are happening actually much faster than we anticipated," Sevestre added, noting a recent trip to the Rwenzori Mountains, located in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in East Africa, where glaciers are now expected to disappear by 2030.

Sevestre has worked with the region's indigenous Bakonzo communities who believe a deity called Kitasamba lives in the glaciers.

"Can you imagine the deep spiritual connection, this strong attachment they have towards the glaciers and what it might mean for them that their glaciers are disappearing?" Sevestre said.

Glacial melt in East Africa has led to increased local conflicts over water, according to the new UNESCO report, and while the impact on a global scale is minimal, the trickle of melting glaciers around the world is having a compounding impact.

Between 2000 and 2023, melting mountain glaciers have caused 18 millimeters of global sea level rise, about 1 mm per year. Every millimeter can expose up to 300,000 people to annual flooding, according to the World Glacier Monitoring Service.

"Billions of people are connected to glaciers, whether they know it or not, and that will require billions of people to protect them," Sevestre said.



Turkish First Lady Urges Melania Trump to Speak Out on Gaza

Protesters wave Turkish and Palestinian flags from the Maiden's Tower during a protest in support of the Palestinian people, in Istanbul, Türkiye, 23 August 2025. (EPA)
Protesters wave Turkish and Palestinian flags from the Maiden's Tower during a protest in support of the Palestinian people, in Istanbul, Türkiye, 23 August 2025. (EPA)
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Turkish First Lady Urges Melania Trump to Speak Out on Gaza

Protesters wave Turkish and Palestinian flags from the Maiden's Tower during a protest in support of the Palestinian people, in Istanbul, Türkiye, 23 August 2025. (EPA)
Protesters wave Turkish and Palestinian flags from the Maiden's Tower during a protest in support of the Palestinian people, in Istanbul, Türkiye, 23 August 2025. (EPA)

Turkish First Lady Emine Erdogan has written to US President Donald Trump's wife, Melania Trump, and urged her to contact Israel's prime minister and raise the plight of children in Gaza, authorities in Ankara said on Saturday.

Emine Erdogan wrote that she had been inspired by the letter Melania Trump sent to Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month about children in Ukraine and Russia.

"I have faith that the important sensitivity you have shown for the 648 Ukrainian children ... will be extended to Gaza as well," Emine Erdogan wrote in the letter dated Friday that was published by the Turkish presidency.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"These days, when the world is experiencing a collective awakening and the recognition of Palestine has become a global will. I believe that your call on behalf of Gaza would fulfil a historic responsibility toward the Palestinian people," Emine Erdogan's letter added.

A global hunger monitor determined on Friday that Gaza City and surrounding areas are officially suffering from famine, and it will likely spread, escalating pressure on Israel to allow more aid into the Palestinian territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed that report as an "outright lie", and said Israel had a policy of preventing not causing starvation.

The Gaza war was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel's military campaign has killed more than 62,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.


Pakistan Lake Formed by Mountain Mudslide Threatens 'Catastrophic' Floods

People sit along a mud-covered road as rescue operations continue after flash floods in Buner, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, 22 August 2025. EPA/SOHAIL SHAHZAD
People sit along a mud-covered road as rescue operations continue after flash floods in Buner, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, 22 August 2025. EPA/SOHAIL SHAHZAD
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Pakistan Lake Formed by Mountain Mudslide Threatens 'Catastrophic' Floods

People sit along a mud-covered road as rescue operations continue after flash floods in Buner, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, 22 August 2025. EPA/SOHAIL SHAHZAD
People sit along a mud-covered road as rescue operations continue after flash floods in Buner, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, 22 August 2025. EPA/SOHAIL SHAHZAD

A 7-km (4-mile) lake in northern Pakistan, created by a mountain mudslide, is threatening to burst and unleash potentially "catastrophic" floods downstream, officials warned on Saturday.

The mud flow descended into the main Ghizer River channel and blocked it completely on Friday, creating the lake in Gilgit Baltistan province, the National Disaster Management Authority said.

The blockage created a "dam-like structure" that poses a significant threat of bursting, it said in a situation report by its provincial office.

The new lake "can cause a catastrophic flood", said Zakir Hussain, director general of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority.

Four downstream districts - Ghizer, Gilgit, Astore and Diamer - face a serious threat, he told Reuters.

Ghizer is north of the mountain districts in northwest Pakistan where floods triggered by the worst of this year's monsoon rains and cloudbursts have killed nearly 400 people since August 15.

A video shared by the national authority on a WhatsApp group where it issues statements shows black mud sliding down the mountain before landing in the river. Reuters could not independently verify the video, which an official at the authority said was shot by residents.

Similar mud flows landed in the river from different mountainsides, said provincial government spokesperson Faizullah Faraq.

A shepherd on higher ground, the first to spot the mud flow crashing down, alerted villagers and local authorities, he said. As a result of the warning, he said, nearly 200 people in dozens of scattered houses tucked in the mountainsides and the river's surroundings were rescued.

The lake has started discharging water, meaning the threat of a burst is receding, but flash floods in downstream districts cannot be ruled out until the lake is completely cleared, Faraq said.

The communities downstream have been directed to stay on high alert and vacate areas along the river, he said.

Floods across Pakistan have killed 785 since the monsoon started in late June, the national authority said, warning of two more rain spells by September 10.


Kilauea’s Eruption Is Back as the Hawaii Volcano Shoots Lava for the 31st Time Since December

In this image provided the. the US Geological Survey (USGS), geologist deployed to the rim look over evening views of lava fountaining from Haleumaumau Crater at the summit of Kilauea volcano inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii., Feb. 11, 2025. (J. Barnett/US Geological Survey via AP, File)
In this image provided the. the US Geological Survey (USGS), geologist deployed to the rim look over evening views of lava fountaining from Haleumaumau Crater at the summit of Kilauea volcano inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii., Feb. 11, 2025. (J. Barnett/US Geological Survey via AP, File)
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Kilauea’s Eruption Is Back as the Hawaii Volcano Shoots Lava for the 31st Time Since December

In this image provided the. the US Geological Survey (USGS), geologist deployed to the rim look over evening views of lava fountaining from Haleumaumau Crater at the summit of Kilauea volcano inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii., Feb. 11, 2025. (J. Barnett/US Geological Survey via AP, File)
In this image provided the. the US Geological Survey (USGS), geologist deployed to the rim look over evening views of lava fountaining from Haleumaumau Crater at the summit of Kilauea volcano inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii., Feb. 11, 2025. (J. Barnett/US Geological Survey via AP, File)

Hawaii's Kilauea volcano resumed erupting Friday by shooting an arc of lava 100 feet (30 meters) into the air and across a section of its summit crater floor.

It was Kilauea's 31st display of molten rock since December, an appropriately high frequency for one of the world's most active volcanoes.

The north vent at the summit crater began continuously spattering in the morning, and then lava overflowed a few hours later. The vent started shooting lava fountains in the afternoon.

The eruption was contained within the summit crater, and no homes were threatened.

A few lucky residents and visitors will have a front-row view at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. If the past is a guide, hundreds of thousands more will be watching popular livestreams made possible by three camera angles set up by the US Geological Survey.