Italy's glaciers retreat by 40 pct over last decades, drastic steps needed to prevent further meltdown: WWF

Alpine glaciers in Italy have disappeared at an alarming rate over the last three decades, losing an estimated 40 percent of their total area as a result of climate change, a recent report released by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said.

"The situation of glaciers on the Italian side of the Alps is very worrying," Gianfranco Bologna, scientific director of WWF-Italy and co-author of the report, told Xinhua in an interview.

The Hot Ice report was unveiled earlier this week, ahead of a crucial United Nations Climate Change Conference due to be held in Paris from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11.

It contained several warnings, suggesting that drastic measures should be adopted at the Paris summit to prevent the further deterioration of glaciers in Italy and worldwide.

With respects to the Italian Alps, the report stated glaciers currently cover a total area of about 368 square kilometres (km2) compared to 609 km2 in the 1980s.

Friday's figures came from the New Italian Glacier Inventory, which was presented at the 19th Alpine Glaciology Meeting held in May in Milan, and were compared with the 1989 World Glacier Inventory (WGI) based on data collected in the 1980s.

The comparison suggested an area reduction of some 240 km2, or over 39 percent.

Researches showed that glacier melting is undoubtedly caused by human activities, and the WWF report stressed that "the extent and scale of the interactions between the biosphere and the human species in recent centuries is unprecedented".

"The scientific community has been coordinating the collection of standardized data about glaciers worldwide since the end of 18th century," Bologna explained.

"We have seen them retreating slowly for over a century, and much more sharply in the last 50 years".

"Another important change is taking place: the number of glaciers is increasing," he stressed.

Indeed, Italy currently counts 903 glaciers against 824 registered in 1962, and such increase "does not suggest the situation has improved".

"On the contrary, it is a result of ice fragmentation, which is a phenomenon linked to global warming," Bologna said.

The melting process is affecting the Arctic and Antarctica the most, but also glaciers around the world, such as in the Himalayas, Patagonia, Alaska, the Ural Mountains, and, of course, the Alps; and the environmental watchdog warned the future does not seem bright.

"Unfortunately, we have to forecast a further reduction of Alpine glaciers because we have no elements indicating that emissions have been reduced since the year 1990 (set as a baseline by the Kyoto Protocol on climate change)," the scientific director explained.

Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), which is the main greenhouse gas produced by human activities and most responsible for global warming, have indeed risen to 35.3 billion tonnes per year in 2013 from 22.6 billion tonnes in 1990, according to the European Union Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR).

"On this aspect, we must also emphasize the progressive effect of global warming," Bologna said.

"According to climatologists, the negative impact of climate changes would persist for a very long time even if we were able to stop emissions right now."

The further melting of Alps' glaciers would pose multiple threats to Italy's environment and economy.

"Firstly, ice is part of the water cycle. Thus, ice melting affects the availability of water for humans, and the life of the fauna and flora in mountain areas," the expert said.

The modification of the hydrogeological cycle would be particularly critical with regard to agriculture and food availability, given that up to 70 percent of the water used worldwide is now destined for irrigation.

"Alpine glaciers specifically give rise to many Italian rivers, including the Po (Italy's longest river), which guarantee the fertility of the land in many areas," Bologna stressed.

"Last, but not least, there is tourism: it is another crucial productive sector in Italy that may suffer greatly from a further retreating of glaciers in the Alps." Endit