Geneva-SANA
The United Nations has called for urgent international coordination to address the consequences of climate change in terms of shrinking sea ice, melting glaciers, and rapid and lasting changes in the global cryosphere.
WMO spokeswoman Claire Knowles told reporters today: "With the consensus of the WMO member states currently meeting, a resolution has been approved that makes the study of modifications in the cryosphere, the surface where water is in an icy state, one of its main priorities."
Nollis explained that this decision was taken in light of the increasing effects of shrinking sea ice, melting glaciers, ice cover, permafrost and snow on sea level rise and associated risks to water security, economies and ecosystems.
During the discussions, delegates from around the world from small island states in the Caribbean, Africa, Canada and elsewhere expressed concern about the rapid and permanent changes in some cases in the cryosphere, Knowles said.
"We need more monitoring to monitor the scale and speed of change and we need to think seriously about water resource management," Knowles said, noting that "more than a billion people depend on water that comes from melting ice and glaciers and when glaciers disappear, we have to think about what will happen to the security of these people's water supplies."
FAO Secretary-General Finn Petteri Taalas said in a statement that the cryosphere issue "is not only a hot topic for the Arctic and Antarctica, but a global problem."
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