Glacier melt a ‘wake up call for the world’

SHANGHAI: Glacier melt at major sites in western China is accelerating fast, Greenpeace said, prompting thousands to evacuate in recent months and underscoring the vulnerability to climate change in a “wake-up call” for the world.

Satellite analysis showed the rate of retreat at glaciers in China’s western regions had more than doubled, Greenpeace said, with the annual rate at the Tianshan Glacier No 1 in Xinjiang rising from 5,000sq m between 1962 and 1986 to 10,600sq m between 1986 and this year.