Sep, 15 2025 | 18:00 - 20:30


Special event for the International Year of Glacier Preservation
The value of Glaciers
September, 15 2025 | 18:00 - 20:30


Special event for the International Year of Glacier Preservation
Special Event | Discussion

About the Special Event

  • Date

    2025-09-15
    18:00 - 20:30 (LT)

  • Location

    CCI – Saal Tirol
  • Costs

    #IMC25 Registered: € 0.00
    All other external: € 0.00

  • Type

    Discussion
  • Accessibility

    Registration required
  • Date

    2025-09-15
    18:00 - 20:30 (LT)

  • Location

    CCI – Saal Tirol
  • Costs

    #IMC25 Registered: € 0.00
    All other external: € 0.00
  • Type

    Discussion
  • Accessibility

    Registration required

BACKGROUND

The Embassy of Switzerland in Austria and the University of Innsbruck aim to contribute to the International Year of Glacier Preservation announced by the UN and WMO with an event that will discuss how much glaciers can still be preserved and what the value of glaciers seen from various perspectives is. This broad view should help to generate and deliver information beyond common narratives. The three elements of the program are listed below.

1. INTRO

Greetings by Jonas Baumann from the Swiss embassy in Austria and by Michael Zemp from the World Glacier Monitoring service.

Program

2. OUR PENALISTS

A selection of outstanding and diverse international experts will discuss the multiple values of glaciers for individuals and our society in a panel discussion.

Moderator

Private

I started my academic career investigating hazards related to glaciers. In the mean time, while I look also beyond glaciers, my fascination with glaciers is still strong and vivid.

Christian Huggel
PROFESSOR
University of Zürich

Panel

Private

With a global interdisciplinary team researching “Life without Ice,” I study the spiritual consequences of glacier extinction in the Bolivian An

Elizabeth Allison
PROFESSOR
California Institute of Integral Studies

Private

Hope, as the future is not written, and ensuring the continued survival of glaciers is one of the most compelling motivations to alter our current trajectory

Michael White
EDITOR, Nature
Springer Nature

Private

Glaciers are an important part of our cultural world appearing in songs and stories, but it was not traditionally central to it until the scientists studying the impact of climate change centered glaciers.

Pasang Yangjee Sherpa
ASS. PROFESSOR
University of British Columbia

Private

My work focuses on developing and applying innovative methods, such as drone-based surveys, to better understand glacier dynamics

Lander Van Tricht
RESEARCHER
ETH Zürich

3. FILM SCREENING

REQUIEM IN WHITE

The glaciers in the Eastern Alps are dying – irreversibly, scientists agree. Experts are warning of the changing conditions, and adjustments need to be made in many areas. But while the ‘eternal ice’ is disappearing and the permafrost is dissolving, tourism is booming. In summer, visitors crowd into glacier cable cars to get as close as possible to the glacier. In winter, skiing operations are running at full speed. interventions in nature are taking on ever more drastic forms: Slope stabilisation, snow farming, artificial snow systems, massive terrain levelling – a race against time.
With Requiem in White, Harry Putz stages a haunting cinematic homage to the dying of the glaciers in the Alps. Through in-depth interviews, he weaves science and emotion into an oppressive documentary based on his personal perspective on the topic as a local. Shot at 14 glaciers in Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, the film ends by posing the unavoidable question: How do we want to say goodbye to our glaciers?
The film will contain native languages with English subtitles.

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REGISTRATION

Free registration for the event will start in August 2025. If you want to get a reminder, please feel free to .

Header images: © Markus Strudl