ISLAMABAD: Switzerland’s glaciers are shrinking faster than ever recorded, with scientists warning that rising global temperatures are pushing these ancient ice rivers to the brink.
Once vast and sprawling, many glaciers are retreating so rapidly that the Rhône Glacier — once steps from its parking area — now requires a half-hour trek, said Matthias Huss, director of Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (GLAMOS), according to the BBC.
A report by the World Meteorological Organization found that in 2024 alone, glaciers outside Greenland and Antarctica lost 450 billion tons of ice — enough to fill 180 million Olympic-sized pools.
A nation losing its frozen identity
Switzerland has shed about a quarter of its glacier ice in just a decade, with satellite images showing the Rhône Glacier now ending in a lake that was once solid ice. Smaller glaciers, such as the Pizol in the north-east Alps, have disappeared completely.
Until recently, a 2% annual loss in the Alps was considered extreme. But in 2022, Switzerland lost nearly 6% of its remaining ice, followed by continued heavy losses in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
Even the Alps’ largest glacier — the Great Aletsch — has retreated about 2.3km (1.4 miles) over the past 75 years, where trees now grow in areas once covered by ice.
Climate change driving the melt
While glaciers have naturally advanced and retreated over the centuries, scientists say today’s rapid decline is unmistakably driven by human-caused climate change.
Glaciers are expected to keep shrinking even if global temperatures stabilize, due to delayed reactions to warming.
“A large part of the future melt of the glaciers is already locked in,” said Prof Ben Marzeion from the Institute of Geography at the University of Bremen.
“They are lagging climate change,” he added.
Water crisis on the horizon
Turkish news agency Anadolu reported that the accelerating melt poses grave risks for water security. Glaciers act as natural reservoirs, sustaining rivers, irrigation, hydropower, and drinking water. The impact is particularly severe across Asia’s “Third Pole,” where nearly 800 million people rely on glacier-fed river systems.
Experts warn that limiting global warming to 1.5°C could preserve half of the world’s remaining mountain glacier ice — but a 2.7°C rise would eventually erase three-quarters of it.
Hope through action
Despite the bleak forecasts, scientists insist that human choices can still make a difference.
“It’s sad. But at the same time, it’s also empowering. If you decarbonise and reduce the [carbon] footprint, you can preserve glaciers. We have it in our hands,” said Professor Regine Hock of the University of Oslo.
