Scientists: melting ice to affect millions
Scientists reported that melting ice glaciers might affect some people.
The melting of the Earth’s ice has accelerated in recent decades, an alarming phenomenon that could affect hundreds of millions of people across the world, the United Nations warned in a report on Monday.
“Impacts are likely to include significant changes in the availability of water supplies for drinking and agriculture, rising sea levels affecting low lying coasts and islands and an increase in hazards such as subsidence of currently frozen land,” it said.
The Arctic ice sheet has shrunk by six to seven percent in winter and by 10 to 12 percent in summer over the past 30 years, the report said.
The snow-covered regions of the northern hemisphere have reduced by between seven and 10 percent during March and April during the same period, according to the report presented by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
The melting of the ice and snow is not only a consequence of global warming, it is also an accelerating factor, researchers presenting the report in the Norwegian Arctic town of Tromsoe said.
“Snow and ice reflect 70 to 80 percent of the sun’s energy, whereas water absorbs it. If snow and ice continue to melt, this will amplify global warming,” report author Paal Prestrud told journalists.
“Six and a half billion people on this planet have built their way of life… around a certain reality. This reality is changing even more rapidly than expected,” UNEP executive director Achim Steiner added.
The acceleration process also makes it more difficult to anticipate future developments, he said.
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