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Mahesh

03/11/22 22:56 PM IST

UNESCO says a third of World Heritage glaciers will vanish by 2050

In News 
  • The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) warned that several world heritage sites may become glacier-free by 2050.
Key Findings 
  • A survey of 18,600 glaciers at 50 World Heritage Sites found that the glaciers at one-third of these sites will perish because of global warming regardless of the global efforts towards limiting the temperature rise.
  • According to the report, all of Africa’s World Heritage Sites, including Mount Kenya and Kilimanjaro National Park, will become ice-free in three decades.
  • In Europe, some of glaciers of Pyrenees and Dolomites will also disappear. This holds true for glaciers in Yosemite and Yellowstone national parks in America.
  • These glaciers have been depleting at a high rate since the year 2000 because of carbon emissions.
  • Currently, glaciers are losing 50 billion tonnes of ice per annum. This is equal to the total water consumption by France and Spain. It has contributed to 5 per cent rise in the global sea level.
  • According to UNESCO, there is a possibility of saving the remaining two-thirds of sites if the global temperature is maintained below 1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial period. Countries have set a target of limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5°C by 2030. However, the current trend predict that this goal is unlikely to be reached.
  • At the business-as-usual scenario, about half of the world heritage glaciers will completely disappear by the end of this century.
  • The report stated that only rapid action to reduce emission levels will prevent the glaciers from completely melting and save the unique biodiversity that depends on them.
Source- Indian Express 

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