Environment News

Global Cryosphere Under Threat

November 7 , 2026 14 hrs 0 min 43 0

Two reports released ahead of COP31, warned that global warming was causing irreversible damage to glaciers, ice sheets and permafrost.
Reports: Overshoot and the Cryosphere: Averting Global Meltdown and State of the Cryosphere 2026: The Cost of Overshoot, released by the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative (ICCI) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The Arctic warmed up to 4 times faster than the global average over the past decade; the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets lost ice at nearly 6 times the rate recorded in the 1990s.
Exceeding the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C warming threshold, even temporarily, could trigger irreversible ice loss and massive carbon release from permafrost.
Permafrost covers about 14 million sq. km of the Northern Hemisphere and stores at least 1,700 billion tonnes of carbon.
India recorded 6,119 deaths from Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) between 1835 and 2025 — the highest among eight Hindu Kush Himalayan countries.
India ranked third in recorded GLOF events (62), after China (199) and Pakistan (152); the frequency of GLOFs increased fivefold after 1950 to around 34 events per decade.
Ice avalanches triggered 50% of recorded GLOFs, intense rainfall 25%, and about 70% occurred during the summer monsoon.