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The rapid decline of Switzerland's
glacias was laid bare this week after a
new report showed that they lost 3% of
their ice in the last year alone. It
suggests many of the country's smaller
glacias won't survive our current level
of warming. But scientists hope that
rapid action could help to reser
preserve what's left. Our climate
reporter Mark Pointing has more.
>> The iconic mountain landscape to
Switzerland are changing before our
eyes. This is Greece Glacia in 1919.
Here it is today. Where once there was
thick ice, there is now a lake. Dramatic
changes at Pers glacia and Mortarach
Glacia too. And at the largest alpine
glacia of them all, the Great Alice.
What was once frozen is now trees.
>> Certainly a sense of of sadness because
um I love the mountains. I love the
glaciers. So as a as a person I I I feel
sad when I see this dis this appearance
this change but on the other hand it's
also a really fascinating time as a as a
scientist.
>> Switzerland's glacias were roughly
stable between 1950 and the early 1980s.
Since then they've lost almost half of
their ice. UN scientists say the main
reason for the rapid reductions in
glacier ice worldwide over the past few
decades is clear. It's human caused
climate change.
Imagine this staircase is our valley.
Here's our glacia. Higher up, it's
colder. That's where ice is made from
snowfall. Lower down, it's warmer.
That's where most of the melting
happens. In a stable climate, the ice
gained roughly balances the ice lost.
But in our warming climate, the melting
outpaces the snowfall. That's why we see
glacias shrinking around the world. In
historical records, of course, there
have really been massive changes. The
glaced
essentially the Alps and went way into
Germany. So the the glacia have been
much much larger. But what what we see
now is really massive changes within a
few years and we know we can attribute
much of it to anthropogenic climate
warming. So that's also it's really
human human nature.
The disappearance of glacias adds to
global sea levels and threatens the
water supplies of millions of people
around the world.
And while many smaller glacias won't
survive our current level of warming,
scientists are crystal clear that sharp
cuts to carbon emissions can still save
much of the world's ice and preserve at
least some of these pristine mountain
views. Mark Pointing, BBC News.
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