Key Cryosphere Takeaways from the Antarctic Treaty and UNFCCC Meetings

46th ATCM and 26th CEP in Kochi, Kerala, India | 20-30 May 2024
For the first time, the Antarctic Treaty meetings worked on a tourism framework, in response to growing concerns about its rapid growth and environmental impacts. As one of the main outcomes this year, parties adopted the decision to develop the very first “ambitious, comprehensive, flexible and dynamic” framework for regulating tourism and non-governmental activities in Antarctica. While emperor penguins were again unable to achieve special protected status for the third year in a row, progress was made in other areas, including 17 revised and new management plans for Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPAs).

The latest cryosphere and climate science began to take more of a center stage this year. As an important new step forward, the UK proposed to start each ATCM going forward with a plenary session on climate change, to ensure that Parties have the latest climate information available before starting any negotiations. The first climate change workshop will accordingly be held next year in Italy preluding the 47th ATCM. Drawing connections with South Asia, Dr. Sheeba Chenoli delivered the opening plenary SCAR lecture, highlighting the interconnections between tropical regions and Antarctica. She explained the link between Antarctic sea ice and extreme events in lower latitudes – including cyclones, floods, and the monsoon seasons in South America and Australia, as well as Southern Asia.

SB60 in Bonn, Germany | 3-13 June 2024
A full-day Mountains Expert Dialogue (MED) took place for the first time on June 5, reflecting the urgency expressed by many mountain countries at COP28. The MED provided a space for Parties and other stakeholders to address challenges facing mountain regions, and strengthen interregional and transboundary approaches. Core discussions centered on the following: increasing cross-border knowledge exchange and decision making; prioritizing projects that address multiple risk sectors; expanding regional monitoring networks between countries to fill information gaps; and engaging with local and Indigenous communities throughout all levels of policy making. As a common theme this year, finance served as a cornerstone of these conversations.

2024 already illustrates in sharp clarity the mounting crisis faced by mountain and downstream nations from cryosphere loss if emissions continue on their current trajectory. The last remaining glacier in Venezuela disappeared this year. Today, over 10 million people across the world are vulnerable to glacial lake outburst flooding. Snowpack in the Hindu Kush Himalaya is a shocking 23% below normal this year, one of the lowest levels in decades; this means less meltwater in the coming dry season, raising concerns about droughts and water shortages. As UN Secretary-General António Guterres said, “The mountains are issuing a distress call.” Only ambitious and rapid emissions reductions can prevent such alarming glacier and snow trends from causing even greater loss and damage in the decades and centuries to come.

Read more:
Secretariat of the Antarctic Treaty: https://www.ats.aq/devAS/Meetings/Past/97
Swedish Environment Institute on MED: https://www.sei.org/features/insights-to-help-mountain-regions-adapt-to-climate-change/