Greenland’s Ilulissat glacier, one of the most active in the northern hemisphere, is now smaller than it has been in 150 years. The ice in some places on the coast is now melting four times faster than before, says Abbas Khan, a Dane who studies the movements of Greenland's glaciers at the Danish Space Centre.
Glaciers are considered very sensitive indicators of climate change. International attention usually focuses on the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica. Should they melt, the sea level might rise considerably. Moreover, the system of global ocean currents might change. In Europe, the Alps get special attention because they are popular for skiing and tourism in general. Glaciers in Austria and Switzerland are already being covered with plastic in summer, in an effort to slow down melting, by protecting the ice from the sun.
Even glaciers close to the equator are affected by global warming, however. Although they cover a total area of only 2,500 square kilometres, they are important. There are currently 18 glacier regions in Peru. According to the Instituto Nacional de Recursos Naturales, a body of the Ministry of Agriculture, the total area they cover declined by 22 % from 1970 to 1997. Latin America, by the way, is only a minor contributor to global warming. Barely four percent of worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide, the most important greenhouse gas, originate in this region. The USA, however, accounts for almost a third, and Europe for more than a quarter of global emissions. September 23, 2008, Agence-France Presse
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