World Water Day 2025: Protect glaciers to secure our future
This year's World Water Day, organised by the UN, puts glaciers front and centre, highlighting their crucial role in the global water cycle.
On Saturday 22 March 2025, the world will again focus on a vital resource that's increasingly at risk. This year's World Water Day, organised by the UN, puts glaciers front and centre, highlighting their crucial role in the global water cycle.
Under the theme "Glacier preservation," the event aims to raise awareness about the rapid melting of these natural giants, which store around 70% of Earth's freshwater. Losing glaciers threatens not just the water supply for millions who rely directly on meltwater but also agriculture, energy generation, and global ecosystems.
What will I read in this article?
- Glaciers melting faster than ever
- Why is World Water Day celebrated?
- How we can protect glaciers and secure our water future
Glaciers are melting faster than ever
The climate crisis has accelerated glacier melting at an alarming rate, severely affecting water availability for entire communities. In 2023 alone, glaciers lost more than 600 gigatonnes of water—the highest level in five decades.
The consequences are devastating. Nearly two billion people depend on water from glaciers, ice melt, and mountain runoff for drinking water, agriculture, and power generation. Moreover, glacier melt significantly contributes to rising sea levels, now about 20 cm higher than in 1900.
Water quality also suffers. According to the UN, higher temperatures and extreme weather events exacerbate contamination from sediment, pathogens, and harmful substances such as pesticides.
"In 2023, glaciers lost more than 600 gigatonnes of water."
Currently, nearly two billion people lack access to safe drinking water—a figure steadily increasing due to intensifying droughts and floods. Experts project that global water demand could surpass supply by 40% by the end of this decade.
World Water Day 2025: origin and objectives
World Water Day has been observed every 22 March since 1993, following its official establishment by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1992. The initiative emerged from Agenda 21, introduced at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Its primary goal is to raise global awareness about freshwater issues and encourage sustainable water management.
Each year, the UN selects a theme to highlight various aspects of the water crisis. Previous themes have addressed access to clean drinking water, sanitation, and water security. In 2025, the spotlight is on glaciers, whose rapid melting threatens water availability across numerous regions.
Protecting frozen water resources for our future
Glaciers act as frozen time capsules, holding invaluable records of human, environmental and climate history, which provide scientists with invaluable data on historical weather patterns, atmospheric composition and even human activity over thousands of years.
The loss of glaciers threatens not only water security but also the survival of unique ecosystems and the biodiversity that has evolved within these specialised environments.
Effective glacier conservation requires both global and local action. First and foremost, international commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are essential. Honouring climate agreements and transitioning to renewable energy are crucial steps to slow global warming. Meanwhile, technologies such as reverse osmosis desalination, wastewater reuse, and advanced wastewater treatment systems are becoming increasingly crucial.
This World Water Day is a call to action. Protecting glaciers is essential to protecting our future. Only through committed, coordinated, and practical efforts can we secure water resources for future generations and maintain the planet's ecological balance.
Sources: World Water Day and World Wated Day (UN).
