Intervention during the Inauguration of the Ice Memory Sanctuary at the Italian-French station Dome Concordia in Antarctica

President of the Ice Memory Foundation, Mr Thomas Stocker, 

Your Serene Highness, 

Excellencies, colleagues, friends,

It is my great pleasure addressing you today. Not only as SG of the WMO, but in particular because we are connected with Condordia, in Antartica and this brings me memories of my visit to Marambio station, also in Antártica, when I was the Director of the Nat Met Service of Argentina. Glaciers around the world are vanishing, and with them we are losing one of the most valuable natural archives of our planet.

Since 1975, glaciers have lost more than 9,000 billion tonnes of ice—the equivalent of an ice block the size of Germany, 25 metres thick.  

Even under optimistic scenarios, nearly half of the world’s glaciers could disappear by the end of this century.

Ice that accumulated over centuries is melting away, taking with it irreplaceable records of past climates—information that, once lost, can never be recovered.

Today, here in Antarctica, we respond to that challenge.

The inauguration of the Ice Memory Sanctuary is more than a scientific milestone. It aligns directly with the International Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences. By preserving glacier ice, we extend climate records far beyond the period of instrumental observations and strengthen the scientific foundations of global climate monitoring. Initiatives like Ice Memory complement WMO’s global observing systems and help ensure that critical knowledge of the past remains available to future generations.

Every year, 273 billion tonnes of ice are lost—an amount equal to 30 years of global human water consumption.  

This loss disrupts river flows, food production and ecosystems. It threatens cultural heritage and, ultimately, human security.

These ice cores are not relics. They are reference points. Within their layers are preserved records of temperature, atmospheric composition, volcanic events, and traces of human pollution. They allow scientists—now and in the future—to understand what changed, how fast, and why.

This is not nostalgia. This is preparation.

Let me conclude with two priorities:

• First, to strengthen cooperation between science and decision-making. 
• Second, to invest in observation systems and protect open, trusted climate and cryosphere data.

Observation alone is not enough. Preservation is essential.

I commend this initiative—not as an endpoint, but as a call to action. The science is clear, the responsibility is shared, and the time to act is now.  

Thank you.