A photo from the summit of Semenovskogo, a mountain in Southwest Russia. The photo shows a glacier.
The year 2025 was declared theInternational Year of Glaciers' Preservation (IYGP2025) by the United Nations General Assembly to"highlight the importance of glaciers and ensure that those relying on them...receive the necessary.. services".[1] The declaration was made at a request the mountainous country ofTajikistan made during 2022.[2]Melting ice and glaciers threaten water security in many regions, including Tajikistan.[3][4]
Advocating changes in policy and sustainable measures to preserve glaciers.[6][7]
This commemoration is co-facilitated byUNESCO and theWorld Meteorological Organization.[8][9][10] The official launch will occur on March 21, which is also now the World Day for Glaciers.[11][12] The International Conference of Glaciers' Preservation took place from May 29—June 1, 2025 inDushanbe, Tajikistan.[13][14] The conference resulted in the Dushanbe Glacier Declaration that calls for:
a worldwide inventory of existing perennial ice and snow masses
promotion of integrated approaches for climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience
strengthened cooperation and partnerships among scientific institutions and relevant stakeholders about mountain cryosphere monitoring and research
promotion of availability of research results and findings to all stakeholders
increasing climate finance to support vulnerable mountain and downstream communities.[15]
There are more than 275,000 glaciers in the world, covering about 700,000 km², and storing about 170,000 km3 of ice. This adds up to about 70% of the global freshwater.[16] Glaciers yield important information about ecosystem health and history because atmospheric gases are preserved within the layers of ice, offering a precise timeline of the history of Earth's atmosphere.[17][18] The global sea-level rise of 20 cm from 1900 is partly a result of melting glaciers.[19]
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