As the international community observed the first-ever World Day for Glaciers on March 21, a project led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has demonstrated how artificial glaciers can help rural communities in Kyrgyzstan adapt to the effects of climate change.
As part of the FAO initiative, seven artificial glaciers were constructed in villages across the Batken region of southern Kyrgyzstan in late autumn 2024.
Over the winter, these glaciers accumulated more than 1.5 million cubic meters of ice. As spring temperatures rise, the ice begins to melt, providing essential irrigation water for downstream agricultural lands. According to FAO experts, more than 1,750 hectares of land, equivalent to 2,451 football fields, can be irrigated using furrow irrigation. If modern systems are introduced, this could expand to as much as 15,000 hectares.
These artificial glaciers are relatively simple structures designed to collect and freeze water in winter for agricultural use in summer, including for irrigation and livestock. On average, one glacier can support irrigation on 300 to 500 hectares.
“The key is to choose the right location,” said Matraim Jusupov, FAO expert on water-saving technologies. “We channel water from a mountain spring through a pipeline ending in a vertical pipe 10-15 meters high. The elevation difference generates pressure, which allows us to spray water into the air. At sub-zero temperatures, it freezes and gradually forms an ice cone.”
To build the glaciers, 6,956 meters of pipeline were laid. FAO supplied construction materials and technical guidance, while the work was carried out by local residents.
The FAO office in Kyrgyzstan has since developed universal guidelines for building artificial glaciers and distributed them across the country. Based on this experience, new glacier construction is already underway in other regions.
Global Glacier Melt
According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS), five of the past six years have seen the fastest glacier retreat ever recorded. The years 2022–2024 marked the largest three-year loss of glacier mass in history. Once regarded as “eternal ice,” many glaciers are now unlikely to survive the 21st century.
There are more than 275,000 glaciers worldwide, covering approximately 700,000 square kilometers. Along with ice sheets, glaciers store about 70% of the planet’s freshwater. Their depletion threatens water supplies for hundreds of millions of people.
In response to this growing crisis, the UN General Assembly declared 2025 the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation and designated March 21 as the annual World Day for Glaciers. The initiative aims to raise awareness of the critical role glaciers play in the global climate and hydrological systems, and their significance to economic and ecological stability. UNESCO and WMO are leading the global coordination effort, supported by over 200 organizations and 35 countries.
Kyrgyzstan’s Initiatives
A Kyrgyz delegation led by Dinara Kemelova, the President’s Special Representative for the Five Years of Action for Mountain Regions Development, participated in World Day for Glaciers events at UNESCO headquarters in Paris on March 20-21.
The meetings focused on the latest scientific research, knowledge exchange, technology transfer, and the socio-economic impacts of glacier retreat. Participants also discussed political strategies and financial mechanisms to address the climate crisis.
Kemelova highlighted Kyrgyzstan’s mountain-focused initiatives and upcoming projects under the Five Years of Action plan. She sounded the alarm over the rapid loss of glaciers in Kyrgyzstan and called for urgent action at both regional and global levels.
She also invited international participants to the upcoming Global Mountain Dialogue for Sustainable Development conference, set to take place in Bishkek on April 24-25.
