Venezuela, a country of great natural diversity and picturesque landscapes, has just lost all its glaciers. This event of great local significance highlights the impact of global warming on our environment. Located in the Andes, on the majestic Mount Humboldt, Venezuela’s last glacier has shrunk to an ice field, symbolizing the end of the country’s glacial era.
The disappearance of the La Corona glacier
For decades, the glacier on Mount Humboldt, known as La Corona, has dominated the Venezuelan landscape, attracting scientists and tourists from around the world. Located at an altitude of more than 5,000. meters above sea level, in the Sierra Nevada de Mérida, was not only a testament to the beauty of nature, but also a key component of the local ecosystem.
La Corona Glacier, once impressive in size, has significantly reduced in size over the past decades. Scientists have warned for years about the imminent disappearance of this landscape feature in Venezuela, pointing to global warming as the main cause. By 2011. Five of Venezuela’s six glaciers have disappeared. All that remains is La Corona, which once covered several square kilometers and has now shrunk to a small patch of ice.
The process of melting glaciers has accelerated significantly in recent years, primarily due to rising temperatures and a decrease in snowfall, which play a key role in maintaining the ice mass. Snow, transforming into ice, is the fundamental source of glacier power. In the case of Venezuelan glaciers, the observed decrease in snowfall has resulted in a shortage of new ice, forming an insufficient amount to compensate for the melting process. This phenomenon has led to a gradual loss of volume of the glacier, which now occupies only 2 hectares.
The study showed that the rate of melting of the La Corona glacier was uneven, with periods of faster and slower mass loss. However, this process has accelerated significantly in recent years, which is directly related to climate change. According to the results of a study published in 2020, the area of Venezuela’s glaciers decreased by 98 percent between 1952 and 2019. With a peak melting rate of nearly 17 percent per year, this occurred between 2016 and 2019.
The end of the glacial era and the effects on the ecosystem and local communities
The disappearance of glaciers has serious consequences for local ecosystems and communities. The snowmelt water from this source fed the rivers that irrigated the valleys and provided water to towns and villages. In the Andes, where glaciers play a key role in the hydrological cycle, the disappearance of La Corona has reduced water flow in rivers, especially during dry periods. The absence of this source means that local farmers will have to rely on less reliable resources, which could lead to lower yields and higher food prices.
For Venezuela, a country already facing a political and economic crisis, the disappearance of glaciers is another major problem.
More countries may share Venezuela’s fate
The case of Venezuela is a warning to the rest of the world. What is happening in the Andes may soon be seen in other parts of the globe as well. Glacier melt is a problem that affects the Alps in Europe or the Himalayas in Asia, but also many other mountainous regions on all continents. The cause of this phenomenon is universal and documented: rising greenhouse gas emissions that lead to increased global temperatures. Rising temperatures accelerate the melting of glaciers, which in turn affects sea and ocean levels and the local ecosystems that depend on them. The example of Venezuela shows that without decisive action, a similar fate could befall more glaciers, with serious consequences for humanity and the environment.
Global temperatures have been rising by an average of 0.06°C per decade since 1850, the time of the Industrial Revolution. In recent years, due to increased greenhouse gas emissions, the rate has accelerated significantly. Since the 1980s, it has been more than three times higher than the historical average.
This means that more and more countries will lose their glaciers. According to Maximilian Herrera, a climatologist and weather historian, Indonesia, Mexico and Slovenia are the next countries at risk of losing their glaciers altogether. Currently, two of them are experiencing record heat, further accelerating the melting process. The example of the La Corona glacier is a harbinger of what may await other regions of the world as temperatures continue to rise.
Photo. main: Wikimedia Commons/Adolfo, CC BY-SA 4.0