IACS Working Group on Cryosphere Stewardship (2026-2029)
WG proposal
WG co-chairs
- Dr Caroline Clason, Durham University, UK
- Dr Amy Lauren Lovecraft, University of Alaska Fairbanks, USA
- Dr Bo Su, Stockholm University, Sweden and Beijing Normal University, China
Motivation
The Earth’s cryosphere is undergoing profound changes due to anthropogenic climate warming and regional human disturbances, triggering far-reaching consequences (IPCC, 2019; IPCC, 2021; CliC, 2021). The melting of ice sheets and glaciers drives sea-level rise, threatening coastal communities globally (Edwards et al. 2021), while the decline of snowpacks and mountain glaciers jeopardizes freshwater availability – and consequently food and energy security – for billions (Immerzeel et al. 2020; Clason et al., 2022; Su et al. 2022). The loss of highly reflective ice and snow exposes darker surfaces, accelerating planetary warming through the albedo effect (Perovich et al. 2007). Critically, the thaw of Arctic and high mountain permafrost risks releasing vast stores of greenhouse gases, potentially unleashing a feedback loop that further intensifies global climate change, destabilizing ecosystems and human systems alike (Hugelius et al. 2014; Sayedi et al. 2020). In addition, due to accelerating climate warming, cryospheric disasters, such as avalanches, glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), and mass movements triggered by rapid thaw, are also exacerbated (Ding et al., 2021). Many cryosphere components have been identified as global or regional tipping elements in the Earth’s system (Lenton et al. 2008; Armstrong McKay et al. 2022). Once their thresholds are passed, irreversible changes are likely that pose considerable challenges for sustainability and reduce human capacity for resilience.
To address this pressing challenge, the United Nations has designated 2025 as the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation, and established March 21st as the annual World Day for Glaciers. These initiatives seek to increase awareness of the vital roles that glaciers, snow, and ice play in the climate system and hydrological cycle, as well as the far-reaching impacts of rapid glacial melt and their impacts on ecosystem services, economies and communities. The United Nations has further designated 2025 to 2034 as the Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences. It calls for international cooperation for solutions to address the pressing societal needs to mitigate and respond to changes in the cryosphere. This will coincide with the Fifth International Polar Year (IPY-5) in 2032-33, bringing together scientists, Indigenous knowledge holders, and global stakeholders to produce actionable insights for mitigating and adapting to environmental changes, while promoting international collaboration and inclusivity”. The working group activities proposed here are thus ideally placed to inform and develop inclusive and just approaches to participation in these key upcoming cryospheric initiatives.
While significant progress has been made to address this grand challenge, current responses are still fragmented and inadequate, often failing to integrate critical knowledge systems or address the unique governance challenges of these vital frozen places. Furthermore, the lack of a holistic framework for cryosphere stewardship has the inevitable consequence of depriving sustainability governance efforts of an effective tool for communication, awareness-raising, policy design and management from local to global levels (Wang et al, 2024). Assessment of the “value” provided by the cryosphere for social and environmental services is also in its infancy, with limited work conducted to-date to assess “loss and damage” in the cryosphere (Huggel et al., 2019) which will become increasingly important for policy and climate reparations. There is an urgent need for a coordinated and multidisciplinary approach to cryosphere stewardship that integrates global governance, regional resilience pathways, responsible assessment of potential interventions, and the profound wisdom of Indigenous Knowledge systems (IK) (Watt-Cloutier, 2018; Eerkes-Medrano and Huntington, 2021; Acharya et al. 2023).
Objectives
The Working Group (WG) aims to research and promote effective frameworks to address the diminishing cryosphere while strengthening coordinated action for cryosphere stewardship. The WG will advance the concept of stewardship, often limited to biological loss, through integrated research, policy dialogue, and actionable strategies across three interconnected objectives to expand and deepen understanding of the cryosphere and how humans can best be stewards. This goal encompasses local to global cryosphere governance, explores diverse resilience pathways, and includes Indigenous Knowledge integration.
Objective 1: Local to Global Cryosphere Governance: (1) Develop a stewardship framework for cataloging policy approaches and legal characteristics in ice-dependent social-environmental systems to analyze governance gaps and fragmentation regarding cryosphere elements and levels of governance; (2) Investigate multiple modes of “stewardship” to design a cryosphere-specific approach that may differ regionally; (3) Propose safe and equitable operating spaces for maintaining Earth’s cryosphere functions and human well-being; (4) Systematically catalogize mitigation techniques through a critical evaluation of scientific, technological and economic plausibility, scalability, potential effectiveness, and socio-environmental risk.
Objective 2: Regional Cryosphere Resilience: (1) Develop a framework for assessing spatial and temporal resilience for the communities dependent on and threatened by cryosphere features – living with the benefits and hazards of the cryosphere; (2) Systematically assess current adaptation and resilience strategies across regions, cultures, and economies to identify enablers, barriers and key vulnerabilities related to community water security, infrastructure, ecosystems, livelihoods); (3) Propose potential resilience and transformative pathways to maximize regional cryosphere services and minimize hazards.
Objective 3: Indigenous Knowledge Integration: (1) Create partnerships with IK holders and develop stewardship approaches; (2) With these partnerships, document and synthesize indigenous observations, knowledge, and stewardship practices related to cryosphere change to inform Objectives 1 and 2; (3) Build on a protocol for cryosphere-focused collaboration and co-production of knowledge in order to integrate IK, and practitioners, into vulnerability assessments and resilience strategies.
Implementation and Deliverables and milestones
We first implement a comprehensive survey of IACS, an “expert solicitation,” in relation to the state of the field and its diverse disciplines to further develop the nuances of the three objectives at the start of the Decade of the Cryosphere. Then, the three scientific objectives will be achieved through the implementation of three work packages (WP1-3) (Figure 1). Each WP will be led by one or two of the co-chairs, who will inform the priorities of the WP in discussion with members, drive the steps required to meet the WG’s goals. The co-chairs will ensure successful implementation of each WP, integrated within the framework of the overall working group goals and deliverables (D1-5). In addition, the Advisory Committee (details in section 4) will oversee the overall work of the WG, offering scientific guidance and ensuring high-level, high-impact cooperation and dissemination of research findings. Members will contribute to the deliverables and provide feedback and ideas about how to meet the WG’s goals and deliverables. We will organize an annual WG meeting that will serve as a platform to discuss individual and group work, fostering dialogue and collaborative idea generation among WG members.
Figure 1. Overview of the work packages
Key deliverables of the working group over its four-year life are as follows:
D1. Online seminar series: We will invite a diverse range of researchers and stakeholders to share their perspectives on cryosphere stewardship. Seminars will reflect each of the work packages, with a minimum of three per year. Seminars will be open to attend by anyone, and we will promote varying modes of communication and engagement to reflect different practices and knowledge.
D2. Conference session and associated special issue: We will organize at least one conference session aligned with the working group themes, fostering dialogue and interdisciplinary collaboration across the research community. We will also create an associated special issue in a fully open-access journal to ensure that research on cryosphere stewardship is accessible to all. It is likely that we will host a session at the EGU General Assembly with a special issue in the not-for-profit journal The Cryosphere.
D3. Community paper on cryosphere stewardship: This paper will develop an integrated stewardship framework for governing global and regional cryosphere changes and their impacts on Earth system functioning and social-ecological systems sustainability. This work aims to submit to high-impact journals.
D4. Community paper on the value of cryosphere services: This paper will provide a first-order estimation of the unequal loss and damage felt by communities due to cryospheric change in order to inform climate policy and reparations. The publication will be accompanied by associated public- and policy-facing summaries to maximise accessibility of the work (e.g. through an Article Hub in Frontiers in Science).
D5. Cryosphere stewardship report: The report (including a summary for decision-makers) will: (1) synthesize the progress of current cryosphere stewardship regarding global cryosphere governance, regional cryosphere resilience pathways, cryosphere geoengineering, and indigenous knowledge systems; (2) identify barriers, key opportunities, and enablers; (3) propose potential transformative pathways and priorities for future cryosphere stewardship.
Participation
The WG will collaborate with international experts and change makers in different regions and composition, and will also work closely with associated organizations, including the WCRP CliC project, the Earth Commission, Future Earth, ICCI, and WMO Global Cryosphere Watch. We will actively promote the transformation of our outcomes into practical actions through collaborations with different stakeholders. We will conduct an open call for participation (e.g., through Cryolist, IACS, and CliC LinkedIn), ensuring that membership is open and accessible, and includes a broad and inclusive representation of expertise across different cryosphere elements and regions.
The Advisory Committee will be composed of scientists and communicators in cryosphere, Earth systems, and sustainability sciences, and representatives of cryosphere-related associations, initiatives, and programs. Committee membership will be developed to ensure appropriate representation factoring in gender, ethnicity, region, and sector, and will be composed of a sub-set of the Working Group membership, representing both academic and non-academic sectors.
References
Acharya, A., Steiner, J. F., Walizada, K. M., et al., Review article: Snow and ice avalanches in high mountain Asia – scientific, local and indigenous knowledge, Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 2023, 23, 2569–2592.
Armstrong McKay D I, Staal A, Abrams J F, et al. Exceeding 1.5 C global warming could trigger multiple climate tipping points. Science, 2022, 377(6611): eabn7950.
Clason C, Rangecroft S, Owens PN, et al. Contribution of glaciers to water, energy and food security in mountain regions: current perspectives and future priorities. Annals of Glaciology, 2022, 63(87-89):73-78.
CliC, 2021. Climate and Cryosphere (CliC) Strategic Plan 2022–2031. World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), 2021.
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Fernández-Fernández, J. M., Oliva, M., Ribolini, A., et al. Cryosphere degradation in a changing climate. Land Degradation & Development, 2024, 35(15), 4359–4363.
Hugelius G, Strauss J, Zubrzycki S, et al. Estimated stocks of circumpolar permafrost carbon with quantified uncertainty ranges and identified data gaps. Biogeosciences, 2014, 11(23): 6573-6593.
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Lenton T M, Held H, Kriegler E, et al. Tipping elements in the Earth’s climate system. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2008, 105(6): 1786-1793.
Perovich D K, Light B, Eicken H, et al. Increasing solar heating of the Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas, 1979–2005: Attribution and role in the ice‐albedo feedback. Geophysical Research Letters, 2007, 34(19).
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