UNEP report on melting glaciers around the world

This got released at the Cancun climate impasse, er, conference or whatever. It'd be a shame if the chance for real progress got derailed by a country named JAPAN.

I'm starting to feel a bit of dislike for the arrogant Japs.

But anyway, here's the report:

Melting Glaciers Cause Droughts, Floods

Here's a compendium:

- Glaciers in Argentina and Chile, followed by those in Alaska and its coastal mountain ranges, have been losing mass faster and for longer than glaciers in other parts of the world.

- The third fastest rate of loss is among glaciers in the northwest United States and southwest Canada.

- Melting more slowly are glaciers in the high mountains of Asia, including the Hindu Kush region of the Himalayas, the Arctic and the Andes.

- Overall, the trend is shrinking glaciers, but greater precipitation in some places has increased the mass and the size of glaciers in western Norway, New Zealand's South Island and parts of the Tierra del Fuego in South America.

- Some areas are experiencing contradictory effects, according to the report. In smaller areas of Asia's Karakoram range, for example, advancing glaciers have crept over areas that have been free of ice for 50 years. But in Asia's Tianshan and Himalayan mountain ranges, glaciers are receding, and some are shrinking rapidly, causing glacial lakes to burst.

The report recommends:

* Strengthening glacial research and trans-national collaboration with emphasis on mass calculation, monitoring and particularly the effects of glacial recession on water resources, biodiversity and availability downstream.

* Improved modeling on precipitation patterns and effects on water availability in particular in mountain regions of Asia and Latin America.

* Prioritizing support to and development of adaptation to water-related disasters.

* Prioritizing programs and support to development and implementation of adaptation strategies for too much and too little water including strengthening the role of women.

* Urgently supporting the implementation and improvement of both small and large-scale water capture and storage systems and improving efficiency of current irrigation systems through the use of green technology and agricultural knowledge.

I say "yea". (and what about desalination?)