EUSR`s Address at the Plenary Session of the High – Level International Conference on Glaciers` Preservation, delivered on behalf of the EU Member States

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Your Excellency Prime Minister Rasulzoda,

Dear co-chairs,

your Excellences,

I would like to congratulate the Government of Tajikistan for organising this High-Level Conference.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

When we look at glaciers, we look at time made visible – frozen histories of climate and geology.

Yet today, these majestic storages of ice and snow are vanishing before our eyes.

Every melting glacier is a clear warning sign!

Glaciers are one of the most sensitive indicators of global warming and, in many regions, they are retreating faster than predicted even a decade ago.

This is not just an environmental crisis – it is a human one.

Over two billion people rely on glacier-fed rivers for drinking water, agriculture and energy.

Their disappearance is rewriting the water map of the world.

We cannot afford to be idle!

Current climate pledges – our Nationally Determined Contributions – are falling short.

To preserve what remains of our cryosphere, we must dramatically raise our ambition ahead of COP30.

That means accelerating decarbonisation, phasing out fossil fuels, and aligning national commitments with the 1.5 degree pathway.

The EU is taking action to drastically reduce domestic carbon emissions, to increase climate resilience and to support other Parties in their green transition and climate adaptation.

Glaciers do not respond to promises – they respond to emissions!

At the same time, adaptation is just as critical. As glaciers recede, water flows become more unpredictable – first more, then less.

To adjust we need to address the whole hydrological cycle, from source-to-sea, across sectors and through transboundary cooperation on all shared water resources.

We need integrated water resource management that is resilient, equitable, and incorporates nature-based solutions.

Climate and water policy both have to be applied horizontally, since they not only affect each other, but all sectors of society.

The EU is working to improve transboundary cooperation across water basins and to strengthen regional integration.

This includes both our support to the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea and a new four-year programme of peer-to-peer support for Aquifer, Lake and River Basin Organisations.

We also prepare to share the most advanced technologies, including our world-leading expertise in Earth Observation.

In Central Asia, cooperation on water, energy and climate change is a clear priority area for Team Europe, to which we have devoted over 800 million euro.

Colleagues, the fate of our glaciers is not yet sealed.

But the window is narrowing.

Let us act with urgency, clarity, and courage.

Let us deliver Nationally Determined Contributions that reflect the scale of the crisis.

Let us manage water not as an afterthought, but as the central link between climate, people, and planet.

Because if we lose our glaciers, we lose far more than ice.

We lose a precious source of our most important resource and we endanger our chance at a liveable future.

Thank you.