Melting glaciers an ‘immediate’ climate risk: Author of UN report

Climate scientist Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, co-author of a new UN Environment Programme report, told AFP that accelerating glacier loss is raising the risk of catastrophic events like the recent Himalaya floods, which followed an August 26th glacial collapse on the China-Nepal border that has killed more than 1,100 people. He said over 40% of all global glacier mass loss since the 1970s occurred in just the last decade.

The report finds the 1.5 degrees Celsius warming threshold will certainly be breached, with severe consequences even if temperatures are later reduced. Schleussner said growing glacial lakes and permafrost melt create real risk of sudden flood waves, particularly in densely populated regions downstream of the Himalaya-Karakoram-Pamir 'third pole' and South America, and that humanity is not prepared for what's coming.

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