Glaciers, often described as Earth’s cold storage, are invaluable recorders of climate history and vital sources of freshwater that sustain ecosystems worldwide. Their rapid retreat, documented over decades of research, has ignited urgent calls for global conservation and coordinated climate action.
The United Nations General Assembly, in its 77th session, adopted a resolution designating 2025 as the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation. In addition, March 21 each year from 2025 will be observed as the World Day for Glaciers. This historic commitment underscores the critical role glaciers play in stabilizing our climate and the need for immediate global collaboration to protect them.
Wang Feiteng, a researcher at the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the Tianshan Glaciological Station, has spent over 20 years on the frontlines of glacier research. In 2005, during his first expedition to the No. 1 Glacier at the headwaters of the Urumqi River in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Wang observed robust snow cover between glacier branches. Today, this area reveals exposed rock and debris as a result of an annual retreat of 5 to 8 meters.
Further studies include the No. 17 Glacier in Dagu, Sichuan Province, which shrank from 0.05 square kilometers in 2020 to 0.03 square kilometers by 2024. Projections now suggest that many small glaciers—eighty percent of the glaciers on the Chinese mainland, particularly those under one square kilometer—are highly sensitive to temperature fluctuations and may vanish irreversibly by mid-century. This loss not only erases critical natural archives but also jeopardizes regional water supplies, ecological stability, and increases the risk of geological hazards.
The evolving narrative of glacier retreat provides a stern warning: as these icy sentinels disappear, the cascading effects of global warming will further challenge water resources, agricultural productivity, and overall environmental resilience. For global readers, business professionals, researchers, diaspora communities, and cultural explorers alike, the plight of glaciers serves as both a call to action and a reminder of our interconnected future.
