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The great melt will shape unprotected ecosystems

Glaciers should be prioritized in conservation agendas — and soon. Analysis suggests that glaciers could lose around half their area by the century’s end, with uncertain consequences for postglacial ecosystems.
  1. Nicolas Lecomte

    1. Nicolas Lecomte is in the Department of Biology, University of Moncton, Moncton, New Brunswick E1A 3E9, Canada.

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Glacier shrinkage is driving one of the most rapid ecosystem shifts on Earth: as anthropogenic climate change causes glaciers to recede, the future of species that have adapted to glacial conditions remains unclear. A comprehensive spatial analysis that quantifies and anticipates this transformation has so far been lacking. But in a paper in Nature, Bosson et al.1 project that glaciers outside the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets could lose as much as half of their area by 2100. Their estimation that around half of these glacier areas are currently unprotected underscores the urgent need for enhanced climate-change mitigation and conservation measures.

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Nature 620, 499-500 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02490-z

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The author declares no competing interests.

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