UNESCO and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) officially launched the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation on January 21, 2025, marking a critical moment in the fight against the accelerating retreat of glaciers, which provide essential freshwater to over 2 billion people globally.

The year-long initiative, which was declared by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2022, aims to raise global awareness about the vital role glaciers play in the climate system and hydrological cycle. It also highlights the urgent need for action to tackle the challenges posed by the rapid melting of these “water towers” of the world.

A Call for Action on Glaciers’ Preservation

Over 275,000 glaciers worldwide, covering approximately 700,000 square kilometers, store around 70% of the planet’s freshwater. Yet, these critical resources are melting at an alarming rate due to climate change, posing significant risks to water security, ecosystems, and livelihoods.

WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo emphasized the urgency of the situation in a press statement: “WMO recently confirmed that 2024 was the warmest year on record and has sounded repeated Red Alerts about the state of our climate, including the retreat of glaciers. In 2023, glaciers suffered the largest mass loss in five decades. This international year must be a wake-up call to the world.”

“In 2023, glaciers suffered the largest mass loss in five decades. This international year must be a wake-up call to the world,”Celeste Saulo,WMO Secretary-General

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay underscored the profound significance of glaciers beyond their environmental role: “The preservation of glaciers stands as one of humanity’s most urgent challenges. These ancient ice formations are not just frozen water – they are the guardians of our planet’s climate history, the source of life for billions, and sacred places for many cultures.”

Raising Awareness and Mobilizing Action

The International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation will bring together more than 75 international organizations and 35 countries, with numerous events and activities designed to educate the public and encourage policy changes. These efforts will focus on expanding global glacier monitoring systems, improving early warning systems for glacier-related hazards, and promoting sustainable water resource management in glacier-dependent regions.

Bahodur Sheralizoda, Chairman of the Committee for Environmental Protection of Tajikistan, which played a key role in the declaration of the year, expressed confidence in the initiative’s potential: “We are confident that this initiative will mobilize the global community, inspire action, and drive the policies and solutions necessary to protect these invaluable natural resources.”

The Impact of Glacier Loss

Glaciers are not only crucial for freshwater storage but also act as time capsules of Earth’s climate history. They preserve valuable records that inform scientists about past climate patterns, atmospheric composition, and even human activities. As glaciers continue to melt, these archives are lost forever.

John Pomeroy, co-chair of the Advisory Board and professor at the University of Saskatchewan, pointed out the consequences of glacier retreat: “Glaciers don’t care if we believe in science – they just melt in the heat for all to see. More than 2 billion people rely on mountain snow and ice to replenish their rivers, lakes, and groundwater. All of this is now at risk as global heating causes rapid glacier retreat.”

“The preservation of glaciers stands as one of humanity’s most urgent challenges,” Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General

The impacts of glacier loss are especially severe for communities living in regions like the Himalayas, Hindu Kush, and the Tibetan Plateau, where the headwaters of major river basins provide water to half of humanity. The immediate dangers include increased landslides, avalanches, floods, and droughts. Long-term consequences, however, could threaten the stability of entire economies and ecosystems dependent on glacier-fed waters.

Protecting Cultural Heritage

Glaciers also hold deep cultural and spiritual significance for Indigenous communities across the globe. For many in Asia, Latin America, the Pacific, and East Africa, glaciers are sacred spaces, often linked to deities and ancestral traditions. The loss of glaciers would not only disrupt local water supplies but would also erase invaluable cultural heritage, some of which is recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

A Global Call to Action

The International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation 2025 emphasizes the urgent need for global collaboration to mitigate climate change and adapt to its effects. Governments, scientific institutions, businesses, and civil society are urged to join forces in protecting these irreplaceable natural resources for future generations.

As Carolina Adler, co-chair of the Mountain Research Initiative, noted: “This year is not just a reminder of the glaciers we are losing – it is a call to action to preserve what remains and ensure that future generations inherit a world with the same vital resources we have January 21, 2025.”

The time to act is now, and the world is watching.

The World Economic Forum’s 20th edition of its Global Risks Report, released today, provides a sobering look at the future of our planet. With escalating geopolitical, societal, technological, and environmental crises converging, the report reveals a global landscape that is increasingly divided and fragile. While economic risks have taken a backseat this year, they remain closely intertwined with other challenges, especially those related to the environment.

Environmental Risks: Dominating the Long-Term Outlook

Environmental concerns have taken centre stage in this year’s report, with extreme weather events, biodiversity loss, and ecosystem collapse topping the list of risks expected to pose the greatest threats in the coming decade. The World Economic Forum’s experts surveyed noted that these environmental challenges are expected to not only increase in frequency but also in intensity.

“From conflicts to climate change, we are facing interconnected crises that demand coordinated, collective action,” said Mark Elsner, Head of the Global Risks Initiative at the World Economic Forum. This interconnectedness underscores the urgency of addressing environmental risks not just as isolated threats, but as part of a broader system of global instability.

Extreme weather events, already a top concern for both short-term and long-term risks, are becoming more prevalent, with devastating impacts on communities, economies, and ecosystems around the world. As climate patterns shift and the intensity of storms, floods, and droughts escalates, the pressure on vulnerable populations will intensify.

Beyond extreme weather, the report also highlights the increasingly dire consequences of biodiversity loss, the collapse of ecosystems, and the depletion of natural resources. These environmental degradations are not only harmful to wildlife but threaten to disrupt entire food and water systems, destabilizing nations and exacerbating existing societal tensions.

Pollution, another environmental risk, is perceived as a significant challenge, with its presence in both the short-term and long-term risk categories signaling a growing recognition of its damaging effects on human health and the planet’s ecosystems. Air, water, and land pollution, stemming from industrial processes and unchecked waste, continue to pose long-lasting threats to environmental and public health.

A Fractured Global Landscape

The report also paints a stark picture of geopolitical and societal divisions, signaling a period of intense global instability. Over half of the respondents predict instability within the next two years, fueled by rising geopolitical tensions, societal polarization, and erosion of trust in governing institutions. This instability is further exacerbated by the growing challenges posed by environmental risks.

Mirek Dušek, Managing Director at the World Economic Forum, stressed the impact of these divisions: “Rising geopolitical tensions and a fracturing of trust are driving the global risk landscape.” He added that this breakdown in global cooperation presents an urgent need for collaboration and resilience to prevent further vulnerabilities from compounding.

Environmental risks, intertwined with geopolitical and technological challenges, could trigger a cascade of negative effects, particularly as nations grapple with resource shortages and the growing costs of climate-related disasters. This “fractured” global order, marked by competition among powers, risks undermining efforts to tackle these pressing environmental threats.

The Need for Global Cooperation

The 2025 report presents an alarming vision for the future, with nearly two-thirds of experts predicting a turbulent global landscape by 2035. Many worry that the mechanisms for international collaboration will come under increasing strain as nations struggle to address escalating environmental and societal risks.

However, amid these challenges, the report offers a message of hope: the need for coordinated action. “The consequences of inaction could be felt for generations to come,” warns Elsner. In this context, leaders have an urgent responsibility to prioritize global cooperation. Effective dialogue, trust-building, and the strengthening of international relationships are crucial for fostering resilience in the face of mounting environmental threats.

While the current geopolitical landscape might be fractured, the report makes it clear that turning inward and focusing solely on national interests is not a viable solution. The complexity and interconnectedness of global risks require renewed efforts to collaborate and address the environmental challenges head-on. Only through global cooperation can the world hope to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change, protect vital ecosystems, and ensure a sustainable and inclusive future for all.

A Decisive Decade

As we move deeper into the 2020s, the stakes are higher than ever. The coming decade will be a critical period for decision-making. Will leaders rise to the challenge of navigating a fractured global order, or will the world be consumed by escalating risks? The answer lies in the collective ability to foster cooperation, prioritize environmental sustainability, and rebuild trust among nations.

The Global Risks Report serves as a powerful reminder that environmental risks are not isolated challenges; they are deeply interconnected with societal, geopolitical, and economic instability. How the world responds to these pressing issues in the coming years will determine the stability and resilience of future generations.

Aluminum, the second-most-produced metal in the world after steel, is a crucial material in industries ranging from packaging to electronics and aerospace. With global demand projected to rise by 40 percent by the end of the decade, aluminum production is set to significantly increase, bringing with it heightened environmental concerns. A new breakthrough from MIT engineers aims to tackle one of the major challenges of aluminum production—waste.

The research team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a novel nanofiltration membrane that could drastically reduce the hazardous waste generated during aluminum manufacturing. This membrane could potentially help aluminum plants recycle aluminum ions that would otherwise be lost in waste streams, enabling upcycling and reducing environmental impacts.

“Our membrane technology not only cuts down on hazardous waste but also enables a circular economy for aluminum by reducing the need for new mining,” said John Lienhard, the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Water in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, according to a press release issued by MIT. He is also the director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS). “This offers a promising solution to address environmental concerns while meeting the growing demand for aluminum.”

In a study published this week in ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, Lienhard and his colleagues demonstrated the membrane’s effectiveness in laboratory experiments. They found that the membrane was able to capture more than 99 percent of aluminum ions from solutions that closely mimicked the waste streams produced by aluminum plants.

If scaled up, this technology could reduce the amount of wasted aluminum and improve the overall environmental quality of the waste produced by these plants.

The Aluminum Production Problem

Aluminum production starts with the mining of bauxite, an ore rich in aluminum. The bauxite undergoes chemical processing to separate aluminum oxide (alumina) from other impurities. This alumina is then transported to refineries, where it is placed in electrolysis vats containing molten cryolite. Through electrolysis, alumina breaks down, and pure aluminum is separated out.

However, over time, the cryolite electrolyte accumulates impurities, including sodium, lithium, and potassium ions, which reduce its effectiveness in the process. When these impurities reach critical levels, the cryolite must be replaced, creating a hazardous sludge that contains residual aluminum and other pollutants. The amount of aluminum lost in this waste can be substantial.

“We learned that for a traditional aluminum plant, something like 2,800 tons of aluminum are wasted per year,” said Trent Lee, lead author of the study and an MIT mechanical engineering undergraduate. “We were looking at ways that the industry can be more efficient, and we found cryolite waste hadn’t been well-researched in terms of recycling some of its waste products.”

A Membrane for Efficiency

In their new work, Lienhard’s team developed a membrane capable of selectively filtering aluminum from cryolite waste. The goal was to recover aluminum ions while allowing other less problematic ions, such as sodium, to pass through. The captured aluminum could then be reused in the electrolysis process, reducing the need for new materials and increasing overall efficiency.

The new membrane technology is based on a design used in conventional water treatment plants. These membranes, made from polymer materials, are perforated with tiny pores that selectively allow certain ions and molecules to pass through. In collaboration with the Japanese membrane company Nitto Denko, the MIT team adapted this technology to capture aluminum ions specifically.

The aluminum ions in cryolite waste carry a higher positive charge than sodium and other cations, which makes them easier to isolate. By applying a thin, positively charged coating to the membrane, the researchers were able to create a barrier that repels aluminum ions while allowing the other, less positively charged ions to flow through.

“We found that the membrane consistently captured 99.5 percent of aluminum ions while allowing sodium and other cations to pass,” explained Zi Hao Foo, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, and co-author of the study. “We also tested the membrane in solutions of varying pH levels, and it maintained its performance, even in highly acidic conditions.”

Scaling Up for Industry

The team’s experimental membrane is about the size of a playing card, but to treat cryolite waste in an industrial-scale aluminum production plant, they envision a scaled-up version similar to those used in desalination plants. In these plants, long sheets of membrane are rolled into spirals, allowing water to flow through them efficiently.

“This paper shows the viability of membranes for innovations in circular economies,” said Lee. “This membrane provides the dual benefit of upcycling aluminum while reducing hazardous waste.”

By applying this membrane technology, the aluminum industry could significantly cut down on waste and reduce its environmental footprint, all while improving efficiency and meeting the rising global demand for aluminum.

Looking Ahead

With their breakthrough in nanofiltration technology, MIT engineers have opened the door to a more sustainable and circular approach to aluminum production. By reclaiming valuable aluminum from waste streams, they are not only advancing the efficiency of aluminum manufacturing but also helping to address the environmental challenges posed by an industry poised for rapid growth in the coming years