Mountains are among the planet’s most beautiful places. They’re also becoming the deadliest

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🗞️ Driving the news: A massive glacier collapse in the Swiss Alps on May 28 has destroyed the village of Blatten, highlighting the growing dangers facing mountain communities
• Triggered by rock avalanches and accelerated ice melt, the Birch Glacier disintegrated violently, burying the centuries-old village beneath millions of tons of debris
• One person remains missing, and the event underscores how rapidly climate change is destabilizing alpine regions

🔭 The context: Mountain ecosystems are uniquely sensitive to warming
• Permafrost — the frozen glue that holds high peaks together — is thawing, weakening slopes and contributing to a surge in deadly collapses
• Similar events have struck the Alps, Andes, Himalayas and Alaska in recent years, including the 2022 Marmolada ice avalanche in Italy and the 2023 glacial lake outburst in Sikkim, India
• With climate-driven heat and rainfall accelerating, such disasters are becoming more frequent and severe

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: Mountains are home to 1 billion people and provide freshwater to billions more.
• But climate change is transforming these regions into high-risk zones for landslides, floods, and infrastructure collapse
• As glaciers melt and permafrost degrades, both local populations and growing numbers of visitors are increasingly exposed
• These cascading impacts — from water insecurity to loss of life — illustrate the far-reaching consequences of warming in fragile, high-altitude environments

⏭️ What's next: Scientists warn that even with immediate climate action, much of the glacier loss is now unavoidable
• Nearly 40% of the world’s glaciers are already on track to disappear
• Countries like Switzerland have advanced monitoring systems, but vast mountainous regions — especially in the Global South — lack the resources for early warning and disaster prevention

💬 One quote: “This is what climate change actually does… there are more new and previously unrecognized situations,” — glaciologist Matthias Huss

📈 One stat: Every 1°C rise in global temperature increases extreme rainfall events by 15%, greatly heightening the risk of landslides and flooding in mountainous areas

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