Glaciers for which there is long-term data are shrinking at record rates and many could disappear within decades, the U.N. Environment Program said Sunday.

Scientists measuring the health of almost 30 glaciers around the world found that ice loss reached record levels in 2006, the U.N. agency said.

UNEP warned that further ice loss could have dramatic consequences particularly in India, whose rivers are fed by Himalayan glaciers.

The west coast of North America, which gets much of its water from glaciers in mountain ranges such as the Rockies and Sierra Nevada, also would be affected, it said.

“There are many canaries emerging in the climate change coal mine,” UNEP’s executive director Achim Steiner said in a statement. “The glaciers are perhaps among those making the most noise and it is absolutely essential that everyone sits up and takes notice.”

He urged governments to agree stricter targets for emissions reductions at an international meeting next year in the Danish capital, Copenhagen.

On average, the glaciers shrank by 4.9 feet in 2006, the most recent year for which data are available.

Read Full Story Here