UNEP Global Outlook for Ice and Snow

The United Nations' Environment Programme (UNEP) has released a report looking at the risks associated with the world's declining snow and ice cover as a result of climate change. According to the UN, impacts are likely to include significant changes in the availability of water supplies for drinking and agriculture, rising sea levels affecting low lying coasts and islands and an increase in hazards such as subsidence of currently frozen land. For example, an estimated 40 per cent of the world's population could be affected by loss of snow and glaciers on the mountains of Asia. The relesase of this report is extremely timely in light of Angela Merkel's call for multilateral agreements to tackle the challenge of climate change at this week's G-8 Summit in Heiligendamm. For more on the report, please click here.