The World Water Day on March 22, 2025, focused on protecting glaciers. These gigantic ice masses store around 70 percent of the world’s fresh water and play a crucial role in the climate. However, climate change is causing them to melt rapidly – with dramatic consequences: Water shortages, rising sea levels and natural hazards such as landslides or glacial lake outbursts. Alpine glaciers are particularly affected, including the northern Schneeferner on the Zugspitze, which is losing almost one million liters of water every day. The ice is also retreating rapidly in the Antarctic, as a recent study shows: since 1956, part of the Collins Glacier on King George Island has shrunk by 375 meters.
Another theme of World Water Day is the “water body type of the year 2025” – the gravel-dominated lowland stream. These streams, formed by the Ice Age, are important habitats for cold-adapted species that are increasingly threatened by rising temperatures. Already 85 percent of these watercourses are considered to be heavily modified. Measures such as the removal of weirs, the renaturation of banks and the reduction of nutrient inputs are intended to help preserve these unique ecosystems. The protection of glaciers and watercourses is a crucial contribution to adapting to climate change and securing the water supply for future generations.
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