UN Report: Melting Glaciers Threaten Food Supply of Two Billion People

More than two billion people live in mountainous areas around the world. Many rely on glaciers for water. A glacier is a huge sheet of ice. They form over thousands of years. But glaciers have been melting too quickly. As those glaciers melt, communities that count on them are placed at risk.

UNESCO is part of the United Nations. It published its 2025 World Water Development Report last week. It warned that glaciers are disappearing. As they do, the lakes, rivers, and streams they feed carry less water. Farmers in mountainous areas depend on the regular cycle of glacial runoff. They use it to water their plants. Climate change, however, has sped melting. Glaciers struggle to recover what they lose in meltoff in the summer months. That, in turn, threatens the water supply in the future.

“Mountain glaciers contain some of the largest freshwater reservoirs on Earth,” Alex Brisbourne told The Guardian. He is a glacier scientist. “Meltwater released in the summer provides the water supply to a billion people ... The impact will be felt way beyond those immediately downstream of the glaciers.”

Since 1998, the Alps and Pyrenees Mountains in Europe have seen their glacial cover shrink by 40%. Parts of Eastern Africa have lost 80% of their glaciers. The glaciers of the Andes Mountains in South America have melted as much as 50%. 

To bring attention to the crisis, UNESCO has declared 2025 the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation. Experts say the urgency is warranted. The WMO reported recently that 2024 was the hottest year in recorded history. And the decade from 2014-2024 were the hottest in the last 800,000 years.

Reflect: What challenges might people face when their water supply becomes less reliable?

Photo of glacier from Unsplash courtesy of Danting Zhu.