Celebration of the First World Day for Glaciers at UNESCO
On the March 20th & 21st, 2025, the Ice Memory Foundation engages with the glaciers’ community, including colleagues who are standing up for water resources and the human, socio-economics impacts of the melting glaciers. All together, we are working on highlighting the high value of ice from mountain glaciers, including the UNESCO World Heritage ones.
As high-altitude glaciers are melting at an unprecedented rate, the International Year of Glaciers' Preservation is crucial for raising awareness and understanding of the human, economics and scientific issues at stake.
High-level commitments from governments are crucial to preserve ice memory, especially as more and more voices are rising to oppose the scientific evidences of climate change.
During these 2 days, as the International Year of Glaciers' Preservation presents a great opportunity to engage a wider audience, Ice Memory's call to action for stakeholders will highlight the critical needs:
This roundtable will offer a deep dive into the drilling expeditions and gather key stakeholders such as the top-level scientists from various disciplines, Ice Memory Foundation governance and philanthropist.
Check the event on the official UN Glaciers website
This traveling exhibition will then proceed to key global summits of this international year, such as the Dushanbe International Conference on Glaciers' Preservation in Tajikistan (29. May-01. June) ; the International Mountain Conference - IMC 2025 in Innsbruck – Austria (14-20. Sept.), the COP30 in Belem, Brazil (10-21. Nov); UNEA-7 in Nairobi (8-12.dec) and the International Mountain Day (location TBC) (11. Dec).
High-level commitments from governments are crucial to preserve ice memory, especially as more and more voices are rising to oppose the scientific evidences of climate change.
During these 2 days, as the International Year of Glaciers' Preservation presents a great opportunity to engage a wider audience, Ice Memory's call to action for stakeholders will highlight the critical needs:
- to contribute to the efforts of an international coordination,
- to support and facilitate, through diplomacy, logistics and assistance to their scientific community, the access to the glaciers by national or international scientific teams to extract ice-cores
- to establish a long-term governance of the Ice Memory heritage in Antarctica
Three upcoming milestones
1 - Scientific session on the Cryospheric Sciences Decade on the 20nd of March, 2025 - Paris
This brainstorming session will be organized with scientists and stakeholders and will lay the foundations for the Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences (2025-2034), promoting international cooperation in scientific research and monitoring the impacts of changes in the cryosphere. Ice Memory will contribute to this session and will highlight the challenges of cooperation and the financial support highly needed to build this ice core heritage during the Decade.2- First World Day for Glaciers on the 21st of March 2025 - the Ice Memory Foundation organize a round-table discussion will be held on the sidelines of the launch day to explore past and future drilling expeditions, and to reflect on the preservation of ice cores as archives of the past.
As an international initiative, the Ice Memory Project addresses numerous logistical, scientific, legal, geopolitical and financial issues that require considerable collective effort and responsibility to ensure this this race against time.This roundtable will offer a deep dive into the drilling expeditions and gather key stakeholders such as the top-level scientists from various disciplines, Ice Memory Foundation governance and philanthropist.
Speakers:
- Prof. Dr. Thomas Stocker, Geoscientist and climate physicist, Former Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group I for the 5th Assessment Report (2008-2015) and President of the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Switzerland. Strategic Board member of the Ice Memory Foundation.
- Patrick Ginot, Glaciologist & geochemist (IGE / UGA-IRD-CNRS-GINP) co-founder of the Ice Memory Foundation and member of its Scientific Board.
- Sabine Lavorel, Full Professor in Public Law at the University of Grenoble Alpes (UGA), Head of The Ice Memory Law and Governance Chair
- Salomé Mormentyn, Polar Initiative Manager at The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation
21st March – 14:00-15:30 – UNESCO Headquarters - 7 place de Fontenoy, Paris
Register hereCheck the event on the official UN Glaciers website
3. Spreading the ice memory call to action through a travelling exhibition
The Ice Memory Foundation is also taking part in and contributing to the UNESCO IYGP exhibition and is among the projects highlighted in the IYGP campaign. Designed for officials and policymakers attending relevant international events, one scene will outline the objectives of IYGP25 and the upcoming decade (2025–2034) dedicated to cryospheric sciences, emphasizing the urgent call for action directed at governments and policymakers. This is why the Ice Memory initiative will be highlighted as well as the crucial needs of scientific & international cooperation.This traveling exhibition will then proceed to key global summits of this international year, such as the Dushanbe International Conference on Glaciers' Preservation in Tajikistan (29. May-01. June) ; the International Mountain Conference - IMC 2025 in Innsbruck – Austria (14-20. Sept.), the COP30 in Belem, Brazil (10-21. Nov); UNEA-7 in Nairobi (8-12.dec) and the International Mountain Day (location TBC) (11. Dec).
Updated on March 13, 2025
