Background

High-Level International Conference on Glaciers' Preservation will be held from 29 to 31 May 2025 in Dushanbe, Republic of Tajikistan, to highlight the vital role of glaciers in maintaining global ecological balance and addressing water-related challenges.

This Conference will emphasize the crucial connection between glaciers and sustainable socio-economic development, focusing on how glacier preservation is essential to safeguarding livelihoods, ensuring water availability, minimizing related hazards, recognizing the role of indigenous peoples and knowledge, and achieving long-term development goals for vulnerable regions and populations.

The melting of glaciers is one of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time. Climate change has already caused the loss about one-third of mountain ice, and without serious mitigation efforts, this trend will continue. As glaciers shrink, they disrupt local and seasonal water supplies that billions of people depend on for drinking water, irrigation, and energy production. This directly impacts agricultural productivity, leading to food insecurity, especially in regions where glacier-fed rivers are vital for irrigation. Additionally, the decline in glacier-fed water flows threatens hydropower generation, which many countries depend on for energy security and economic development.

The Hindu Kush Himalayan Assessment predicts that the region could lose up to two-thirds of its glaciers by the end of the century. In Tajikistan, approximately 30% of glaciers have disappeared over the last century. The Vanch Yakh (formerly Fedchenko) Glacier, the world’s largest continental glacier, has retreated by over 1 km in the past 70–80 years, shrinking by 44 km². Similar trends are observed in other regions. The Amazon River, fed by Andean glaciers, is experiencing severe drought, while rapid snowmelt, glacier outburst floods, and landslides have impacted countries from Germany to Peru to Nepal.

The melting of polar glaciers and ice sheets in the Arctic and Antarctica is also accelerating. According to NASA, between 1993 and 2019, Greenland lost an average of 279 gigatons of ice annually, while Antarctica lost 148 gigatons. This rapid ice loss is contributing to raising global sea levels, posing severe risks to small island developing states and coastal populations, where hundreds of millions of people live.

Recognizing the urgency of these climate challenges and their profound socio-economic implications in December 2022, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2025 as the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have been designated to co-facilitate related activities. In August 2024, the UN also adopted a resolution for a Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences, 2025–2034 to address glacier melt and cryosphere challenges through scientific research and monitoring. Furthermore, the Pact for the Future, adopted at the Summit of the Future on September 22, 2024, provides a framework for glacier preservation. These initiatives aim to address glacier melt through scientific research, resource mobilization and strengthening cooperation at all levels.

Glacier preservation is crucial for climate stability, resilience, and sustainability. This event will raise awareness and advocate for urgent collective action.

The High-Level International Conference on Glaciers’ Preservation aims to reinforce the global agenda on glaciers and the urgent need to halt their melting, calving and retreating. It will foster collaborative action, scientific innovation, and policy alignment to address glaciers melt and its widespread consequences.

The Conference will support the implementation of UN resolutions on the “International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation 2025” and the “Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences, 2025–2034”, by mobilizing resources and fostering international cooperation. It seeks to strengthen global partnerships among governments, scientists, civil society, and other stakeholders, with a focus on enhancing transboundary collaboration to preserve glaciers and their socio-economic benefits.

CONCEPT NOTE of the HIGH-LEVEL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON GLACIERS’ PRESERVATION