The first “One Planet – Polar Summit”, dedicated to glaciers and poles, was held in Paris from 8 to 10 November 2023, Hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, the Summit opened in Paris at the Natural History Museum as part of the sixth Paris Peace Forum.
Video by: Valérie DEKIMPE
World leaders and scientists have emphasized the urgent need to address the rapid melting of snow, ice, and glaciers. The summit called for immediate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enhanced scientific research on the cryosphere, and better integration of cryosphere-related impacts into policy decisions.
A declaration from the summit expressed support for a United Nations Decade on Polar and Glacier Sciences, set to begin in 2025, coinciding with the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation.
This initiative aims to contribute to the Fifth International Polar Year in 2032-33, involving organizations such as the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the International Science Council, and Antarctic Treaty System organizations.
President Macron stressed the severity of climate change threats, and the summit brought together scientists, decision-makers, and communities from over 40 nations to address the visible impacts of climate change on the cryosphere.
“Climate change is already here and it’s a threat which is there and is getting worse by the minute. It is threatening millions already and soon billions of inhabitants,” said President Macron.
Prince Albert II of Monaco spoke at “One Planet – Polar Summit” – The first International summit dedicated to glaciers and poles, which was hosted on November 8, 2023.
“We can no longer ignore them” were the words of H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco,. Addressing the cries of alarm from scientists, the imminent threat of the disappearance of half of our planet’s glaciers, the rise in temperature in Arctic two to three times faster than elsewhere, the melting of ice in Greenland and Antarctic.. These upheavals will have a series of effects on our entire planet, its balances and its ecosystems.
New science report highlights acceleration
A new scientific report was released at the summit, highlighting the acceleration of climate change impacts on the cryosphere. It called for better coordination, more research and data exchange, improved forecasts and monitoring, increased involvement with local and indigenous communities and expanded education and outreach.
“The cryosphere, the white landscapes is the canary in the coalmine of climate and biodiversity crises due to human pressures including greenhouse gas emissions,” said Antje Boetius, Co-chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the conference, and Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research.
Jérôme Chappellaz, the other Co-chair and Chairman of the Ice Memory Foundation highlighted some of the impacts:
- One additional cm of sea level rise means that 2 to 3 million additional people will be threatened by annual floods
- Every ton of additional carbon dioxide in the atmosphere removes 2 to 3 square meters of ice in the Arctic
- Two billion people rely on water resources coming from mountain glaciers
- On the way to 1.5 °C gigatonnes of carbon released from the permafrost – up to 5 years of global carbon dioxide emissions by human beings. Wildfires in the Arctic bring an additional threat
“Science is the best partner. Science has always provided solutions and innovations, but without stronger government intervention it will be too slow,” he said.
Tipping Point
The cryosphere refers to regions of Earth’s surface where water is in solid form: including the vast ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland, sea ice in the Arctic and Antarctic, snow cover, mountain glaciers and permafrost.
These regions, which cover 10% of the Earth’s surface and are home to unique ecosystems, are bearing extreme consequences of the climate crisis. They are also contributing to it through sea level rise.
The summit raised the alarm about the scale and the speed of the melting ice and thawing permafrost and the risk of crossing thresholds and tipping points, which have increased with the continued rise in global greenhouse emissions. There is special concern about the ticking timebomb of melting permafrost and its potential to release vast quantities of methane, which is a powerful greenhouse gas.
It noted the “almost irreversible retreat of some 200,000 glaciers, located in Europe, Africa, Oceania, Asia and the Americas.”
The years 2021 and 2022 saw a massive loss in mountain glaciers, which on average was 20% higher than the previous decade. It is already expected that at least half of these glaciers will be lost by 2100.
Surface temperatures have increased in the Arctic by up to four times the global average in the past forty years and a huge loss of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. This loss has increased four-fold in 30 years, thus contributing to average sea levels rising at a faster rate.
October Antarctic sea ice extent was the lowest on record for the time of year for the sixth consecutive month, and has been accompanied by dramatic ecological changes, including catastrophic losses in Emperor Penguin populations.
Summit participants also warned about the impact of the retreat of high mountain glaciers. The food and drinking water security of two billion people depend on high elevation glaciers, and they will suffer from disastrous effects on the flow of rivers, agriculture and electricity production.
One person in ten lives in a coastal area and will be exposed to the effects of rising sea levels, which is half due to the melting of the cryosphere, at a rate which has been increasing since the 1990s.
“We human beings do have the ability to act in equitable ways to make a difference and avoid the worst impacts of climate change,” said Jim Skea, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Source: One Planet Summit
