The new UNESCO study on glacier

A recent UNESCO study, conducted in cooperation with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), showed that since 2000, the retreat of the 50 glaciers, which are part of the World Heritage Site, has started to accelerate due to CO2 emissions, which increase temperatures. Currently, glaciers are losing 58 billion tonnes of ice per year, which is equivalent to the annual water use of France and Spain combined, and is responsible for about 5% of the global sea level rise.

The conclusions of the study report that one third of the glaciers in the 50 World Heritage sites are destined to disappear irretrievably by 2050 but, it specifies, that it is still possible to save the remaining two thirds by containing the rise in temperatures to within 1.5°C in relation to the pre-industrial period.

The Italian National Commission for Unesco wanted to announce the results of the new report using images taken by the project “On the trail of the glaciers”, publishing on its website a comparison image of the Upsala Glacier, taken during the expedition “On the trail of the glaciers – Andes 2016”.

In more than 13 years of expeditions, the project has monitored and documented several UNESCO sites including the Marmolada glacier in the Dolomites in Italy, the Aletsch glacier in Switzerland, the village of Ushguli in the Svanetia region of Georgia, the Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska and the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares in Argentina. Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska ed il Parque Nacional Los Glaciares in Argentina.

At this link the page dedicated to the article by the Italian National Commission for Unesco.

At this  link the complete report in English.