Caucasus Glaciers Shrinking Amid Climate Crisis

The new “Caucasus Environment Outlook (CEO-2)” report, launched before COP 29 in November, reveals severe impacts on the region covering Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, as well as regions of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Russian Federation and Türkiye.

River flows have already declined sharply, with Armenia seeing a 26 per cent drop in 2020, while groundwater withdrawals in Azerbaijan have surged by 400 per cent since 2000. Average regional temperatures could rise by up to 3.6°C by 2100, exacerbating glacial melt and extreme weather events.

Glacier preservation is the theme of United Nations World Water Day 2025 on 22 March, the day after the first World Day for Glaciers and during the inaugural International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation.

The World Water Day 2025 campaign, co-coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as part of a UN-Water Task Force, will focus on the plight of glaciers and call for more action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and manage meltwater more sustainably for people and the planet.

• Explore the report here.