As glaciers melt, the world’s hidden water banks are at risk

Development and aid, Environment, Global, Headlines, Sustainable development goals, TerraViva United Nations, Water and sanitation

Opinion

QU Dongyu is Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

As glaciers shrink and disappear, changes in water flows pose an increasing risk to the water security, food and livelihoods of billions of people. Credit: FAO

ROME, Feb 12, 2026 (IPS) – Glaciers – the world’s hidden banks of water – are a source of life for billions of people. Seasonal melting of mountains and glaciers supports some of the world’s most important rivers, including the Indus, Nile, Ganges, and Colorado. Those and other mountain-fed rivers irrigate crops, provide drinking water to nearly two billion people, and generate electricity.

But as glaciers shrink and disappear, changes in water flows pose an increasing risk to the water security, food and livelihoods of billions of people.

In the short term, accelerated melting can trigger environmental hazards: flash floods, glacial lake flooding, avalanches and landslides.

In the long term, glaciers as water sources will simply disappear.

By the end of the century, most glaciers will deliver much less water than they do today, undermining agriculture in both mountain villages and lowland breadbaskets downstream.

Mountains cover more than a quarter of the world’s land and are home to 1.2 billion people, but these regions are warming faster than the global average. Mountain communities are especially vulnerable to increasing climate variability and declining seasonal water availability for agriculture and irrigation. Without a viable alternative water supply, loss of agricultural production can often lead to climate displacement and greater instability.

Five of the last six years have seen the fastest glacial retreat ever recorded, and the impacts are already being felt.

Communities from the Andes to the Himalayas are experiencing shorter snow seasons, erratic runoff, and loss of reliable water. In Peru, receding glaciers have drastically reduced crop yields. In Pakistan, reduced snowmelt threatens seasonal planting cycles. Many glaciers have already reached or are expected to reach “peak water” (the point at which meltwater runoff is maximum, after which flows will gradually decrease) in the next two to three decades. This means that everyone who depends on glacier-fed rivers faces increasing shortages as population growth will further increase demand for water.

Beyond science and survival, the disappearance of glaciers erases something less tangible but equally profound. For indigenous peoples and mountain communities in Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Pacific, glaciers are sacred. Its melting erodes traditions, rituals, identity and cultural heritage linked to mountain landscapes for centuries.

While there is still time to act, global responses remain fragmented and inadequate. That’s why the United Nations declared 2025 the International Year of Glacier Preservation, a stark reminder that preserving these frozen ecosystems means protecting our future.

To ensure food and water security from the peaks to the plains, a bold shift in policy, investment and governance is urgently needed.

In general terms, it is necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve water management and strengthen early warning systems, adaptive agriculture and sustainable agri-food systems.

We need to turn the challenges posed by melting glaciers into opportunities for the benefit of all.

Agriculture, a major user of water and a key sector for adaptation, can itself be a solution if developed sustainably. Techniques such as terrace farming, agroecology, agroforestry and crop diversification – practiced by mountain communities for centuries – help preserve soil and water, reduce disaster risk and support livelihoods. Such adaptation efforts must be inclusive, draw on the knowledge of indigenous peoples, and address deep vulnerabilities such as poverty and gender inequality.

We must also mobilize investments in water and agricultural infrastructure. This includes more climate finance to support vulnerable mountain communities struggling to access training, finance and innovation.

Additionally, governments must align strategies, policies and plans to address this critical nexus between water, agriculture and climate resilience. Mountains are often absent from national climate policies and global adaptation frameworks. We need policies and collaboration that address glacier-fed water systems, cross-border cooperation, and early warning and risk-sharing mechanisms, especially as glacier-fed rivers often run through multiple countries. This also includes reviewing water allocation strategies, plans and infrastructure investment across the basin to improve water use efficiency and intensify glacier monitoring and research.

Preparing for a world with fewer glaciers and less precious water requires innovation and coordination. In Kyrgyzstan, FAO has been helping experts build artificial glaciers: towers of ice created by spraying mountain water and gradually melting in summer. In the Batken region alone, this initiative has helped store more than 1.5 million cubic meters of ice, enough to irrigate up to 1,750 hectares.

In Ladakh, India, social enterprise Acres of Ice has developed automated ice bins to capture unused water in the fall and winter and freeze it until spring. In the Peruvian Andes, a community initiative is addressing deteriorating water quality due to minerals exposed by receding glaciers through a natural filtration system that uses native plants.

But much more needs to be done together. Glaciers matter because water matters. Ignoring its rapid withdrawal is playing with global food and water security.

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FAO is mandated to lead the global celebration of International Mountain Day, coordinated through the Mountain Partnership Secretariat, which is financially supported by the governments of Italy, Andorra and Switzerland. The Secretariat collaborated closely with UNESCO and the World Meteorological Organization, co-facilitators of the International Year of Glacier Preservation 2025.