The Retreat of Our Frozen Sentinels

Glaciers are more than relics of the Ice Age. They store water over decades, gradually releasing it to sustain communities, agriculture, and ecosystems. Across the Arctic, the Rockies, and glacial rivers that have sustained civilizations, the ice is retreating at an unprecedented rate due to human-caused climate change, disrupting the delicate balance of the natural world.

The numbers are grim. A 2015 study in Nature Geoscience estimated that the Rocky Mountains could lose up to 90% of their glaciers by the century’s end. A 2023 study in Science projected that most of Western Canada’s glaciers will disappear within a single human lifetime. In Svalbard, above the Arctic Circle, glacial melt is accelerating. On one day alone, Svalbard’s glaciers shed water equivalent to 55 millimeters of rainfall—five times the normal rate. Photographer Christian ?slund, documenting glacier loss for over two decades, was shocked when revisiting sites he first captured in 2002. “The glaciers are almost gone,” he remarked, standing in the Arctic sun, in just a T-shirt.

Yet, hope remains. The United Nations has declared 2025 the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation, an initiative led by the UN Institute for Water, Environment, and Health in partnership with the Global Institute for Water Security. This global effort aims to raise awareness, drive policy changes, and fund conservation projects to slow glacier retreat. Museums, research institutions, and advocacy groups are keeping glaciers in the public eye. In Canada, the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies has launched Meltdown: A Drop in Time, an exhibit telling the story of glaciers through photography, art, and science.

These efforts highlight the importance of the cryosphere—the frozen regions of our planet, including glaciers, ice caps, and permafrost. More than a casualty of climate change, the cryosphere regulates global temperatures, ocean currents, and weather patterns. Its loss accelerates climate shifts, threatening freshwater supplies. Scientists stress that preserving these icy landscapes is essential for stabilizing climate systems.

The loss of glaciers feels daunting, yet those who work closest to them remain hopeful. ?slund refuses to despair. “We still have hope that we can turn this around.” Every fraction of a degree of warming we prevent, every ton of carbon kept from the atmosphere, slows the melt. The power to make a difference lies in our hands, through political will, collective action, and a commitment to preserving what remains.

In twenty years, ?slund plans to return to the Arctic with his camera. Perhaps, by then, the retreat will have slowed. The fate of the cryosphere is not sealed, there is still time to act.