The glaciers on Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, are expected to be wiped out by 2040, according to a global weather organization, highlighting how climate change is driving extreme events around the world.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has declared the 2011-2020 period to be the warmest decade on record for both land and ocean. The loss of glaciers and ice sheets, as well as the rise in sea level, were unprecedented during this decade, according to the report.
“Continued rising concentrations of greenhouse gases fuelled record land and ocean temperatures and turbo-charged a dramatic acceleration in ice melt and sea level rise,” WMO said citing its new report.
Glaciers thinned by an unprecedented 1 meter per year, raising long-term water concerns for millions of people, according to the WMO, which added that nearly all 19 primary glacier regions experienced rising negative values between 2000 and 2020.
“The Antarctic continental ice sheet lost nearly 75% more ice between 2011-2020 than it did in 2001-2010 – an ominous development for future sea level rise which will jeopardize the existence of low-lying coastal regions and states,” said the global body.
The report also showed an increase in the concentrations of the three major greenhouse gases in the atmosphere over the decade. Ocean warming and acidification are also on the rise, posing a threat to marine ecosystems.
Global sea levels rising, climate change intensifying
The WMO also expressed concern about an increase in global mean sea level caused by ocean warming and loss of land ice mass. Greenland and Antarctica lost 38% more ice between 2011 and 2020 than in the previous decade, according to the report.
The Arctic sea ice extent is continuing to decline, with the seasonal mean minimum being 30% lower than average, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
The only bright spot was that the Antarctic ozone hole was smaller in 2011-2020 than it had been in the previous two decades. According to WMO, this demonstrates the success of the Montreal Protocol, which was adopted in 1987 to combat ozone depletion.
Climate change, on the other hand, remains a real threat.
“Each decade since the 1990s has been warmer than the previous one and we see no immediate sign of this trend reversing. More countries reported record-high temperatures than in any other decade. Our ocean is warming faster and faster and the rate of sea level rise has nearly doubled in less than a generation. We are losing the race to save our melting glaciers and ice sheets,” said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.