Adaptation at Altitude: enhancing resilience from glaciers to seas

Summary

The International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation launches on 21st January 2025, and the Adaptation at Altitude Knowledge Network is holding a side event!

Are you a researcher, practitioner, or policy maker interested in climate adaptation in mountain regions? Join us this International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation to connect, exchange, and learn from diverse experiences and innovative solutions across mountain regions worldwide!

Background

Mountains cover one quarter of the Earth’s land surface and host more than 1 billion people, along with 25% of terrestrial biodiversity and 60% of the world’s biosphere reserves. Mountains also provide freshwater to more than half of the global population, as well as essential ecosystem services.

Mountains feature some of the clearest indications of climate change, disrupting water flows and affecting ecosystems, creating and worsening natural hazards and threatening livelihoods and communities both within the mountains and downstream. With temperatures continuing to rise, the world’s glaciers are diminishing at an alarming rate. This not only brings enhanced risks, such as glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) – which expose approximately 15 million people globally – but also threatens the availability of water resources that sustain agriculture, energy, and drinking water for billions of people downstream.  

The United Nations declared 2025 as the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation, with an official launch on the 21st January, accompanied by the proclamation of the 21^st March of each year as the World Day for Glaciers starting in 2025.

Agenda + Speakers

The session will open with an introductory presentation and be followed by a showcase of projects and solutions adapting to climate change induced glacier hazards in mountain regions, with the goal of fostering learning, collaboration, and knowledge exchange. It will close with a discussion of best practices, shared gaps and challenges, and a Q&A.  

More information coming soon!

About the A@A Knowledge Network

The Adaptation at Altitude programme, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), seeks to support mountain communities and those working with them by improving the knowledge of appropriate climate change adaptation strategies in the mountains, and transferring that knowledge through science–policy platforms to inform decision-making in national, regional and global policy processes.

The Adaptation at Altitude (A@A) Knowledge Network is a global community through which we can share experiences and knowledge on adaptation in the mountains and collaborate to accelerate the uptake of innovative solutions. Want to keep informed about our upcoming meetings and events? Find more information and details on how to get involved on our A@A Knowledge Network homepage.