A special webinar celebrating the first World Day for Glaciers on March 21, 2025 was convened and moderated from the United Nations in Paris and New York by the Next-Generation Science Diplomat Committee with the University of the Arctic (UArctic):
First World Day for Glaciers (21 March 2025):
Planning Toward the 5th International Polar Year (IPY-5) 2032-2033.
This webinar was hosted by the Global Health Economics & Sustainability (GHES) journal.
In addition to celebrating the first World Day for Glaciers, purpose of this webinar was to illustrate a ‘continuum of urgencies’ short-to-long term in view of the International Year of Glacier Preservation 2025 in context of the Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences (2025-2034).
This webinar set in motion concrete project planning with the 5th International Polar Year (IPY-5) in 2032-2033, which is the next step in the “oldest continuous climate research program created by humanity”, which began with IPY-1 in 1882-1883, intentionally during a Solar Maximum following the ‘Little Ice Age’ that extended for more than three centuries in Europe. The IPY experiment across centuries has core relevance to climate research on Earth, independent of short-sighted and self-interested national interests.
With planetary considerations across centuries – empowered with the continuity of science (natural sciences, social sciences and Indigenous knowledge) – IPY-5 represents a transformational as well as hopeful opportunity for humanity, recognizing inclusion (who, what, when, where, why and how) is the essence of knowledge discovery.
The first World Day for Glacciers webinar (above) also introduces the ‘TIME ACCORDION PUZZLE’:
How can we make informed decisions across a ‘continuum of urgencies’ short-to-long term?
The puzzle is to explore, celebrate and apply relationships across the United Nations’ Day–Week – Year – Decade observances. Synergies across time are available for all to discover since the first International Decade, which emerged in 1961 following the International Geophysical Year (IGY) 1957-1958 that was renamed from the third International Polar Year.
The first World Day for Glaciers was during the International Year for Glacier Preservation 2025 in view of the International Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences 2025-2034. Context of the ‘time accordion’ extends across centuries with IPY-5 in 2032-2033 in view International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development 2024-2033, considering the “oldest continuous climate research program created by humanity
