UN issues warning over disappearing glaciers

Glaciers are shrinking at record rates and many could disappear within decades, the UN Environment Programme said today.

Scientists measuring the health of almost 30 glaciers around the world found that ice loss reached record levels in 2006, the UN agency said.

The most severe loss in 2006 was recorded at Norway’s Breidalblikkbrea glacier, which shrank 3.1 metres, while Chile’s Echaurren Norte glacier was the only one to grow slightly thicker.

On average, the glaciers shrank by 1.5 metres in 2006, the most recent year for which data are available.

“The latest figures are part of what appears to be an accelerating trend with no apparent end in sight,” said Wilfried Haeberli, director of the Zurich-based World Glacier Monitoring Service.