A thaw of the world's glaciers has accelerated to a new record with some of the biggest losses within Europe, the UN Environment Programme has said.
‘Meltdown in the mountains', UNEP said in a statement, saying that a retreat of glaciers from the Andes to the Arctic should add urgency to UN negotiations on working out a new treaty by the end of 2009 to combat global warming.
‘Data from close to 30 reference glaciers in nine mountain range indicates that between the years 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 the average rate of melting and thinning more than doubled,’ it said.
Some of the biggest losses were in Europe, in the Alps, the Pyrenees and the Nordic region, according to the UNEP-backed World Glacier Monitoring Service.
The estimates, based on measuring the thickness of glacier ice, indicated an average loss of about 1.5 metres in 2006, up from just over half a metre in 2005.
UNEP said that the thinning was the fastest since monitoring began.
A thaw of the world's glaciers has accelerated to a new record with some of the biggest losses within Europe, in a worrying sign of climate change, the UN Environment Programme has said.
‘Meltdown in the mountains, UNEP said in a statement, saying that a retreat of glaciers from the Andes to the Arctic should add urgency to UN negotiations on working out a new treaty by the end of 2009 to combat global warming.
‘Data from close to 30 reference glaciers in nine mountain ranges indicate that between the years 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 the average rate of melting and thinning more than doubled,’ it said.
Some of the biggest losses were in Europe, in the Alps, the Pyrenees and the Nordic region, according to the UNEP-backed World Glacier Monitoring Service.
The estimates, based on measuring the thickness of glacier ice, indicated an average loss of about 1.5m in 2006, up from just over half a metre in 2005.
UNEP said that the thinning was the fastest since monitoring began.
