The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has released the Frontiers 2025: The Weight of Time report, warning that melting glaciers and permafrost are reviving ancient microbes and releasing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes.

Key Concerns Raised in the Report

• Cryosphere Melting at Unprecedented Scale: Rapid thawing is linked to irreversible sea-level rise, glacier loss, and ecosystem disturbance.
  • Even at 1.5°C warming, world glaciers could be halved by 2100.
  • Permafrost thaw could affect 24%–69% of surface area by century’s end.

• Revival of Ancient Microbes: Thawing permafrost may resurrect dormant pathogens, disrupting ecosystems and posing new disease risks.
  • Example: 2016 anthrax outbreak in Russia’s Yamal Peninsula linked to reactivated Bacillus anthracis spores from thawed permafrost.
    • The outbreak killed over 2,000 reindeer and infected about 90 herders.
• Rise in Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR): AMR genes preserved in ice are now being released into active microbial ecosystems.
• • These genes could transfer to modern bacteria, creating new drug-resistant pathogens. AMR genes detected include resistance to beta-lactams, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, and streptomycin. Researchers have found thousands of virulence factors in microorganisms from Tibetan glaciers.

• Microbial Discoveries
  • Dormant roundworms revived from Siberian permafrost after 46,000 years, showing long-term microbial survival.
  • Psychrophiles (cold-loving microbes) adapt to icy habitats using antifreeze proteins and UV-protecting pigments.
  • Some psychrophilic enzymes are already in commercial use (e.g., food industry, biotech).
• Irreversible Damage Without Climate Action
• • Even if emissions stop today, cryosphere restoration to mid-20th century levels would take centuries.
  • Short-lived climate pollutants, especially black carbon, are speeding up ice melt by reducing surface reflectivity.

UNEP’s Recommendations

• Mitigation: Addressing primary sources of black carbon such as emissions from diesel engines, open-field crop burning, and wildfires is essential.
• Regulation: Control tourism in sensitive cryospheric zones.
• Innovation: Use reflective geotextiles to slow melting (though costly and polluting at scale).
• Global Action: Urgent and coordinated emission reduction is essential.

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