“World Water Day” SDG-in-China Promotes Climate Action, Let The “White Giants” Cool
The “White Giants” is the guardian of the world’s water tower. For some people who especially live in the cities, it is hard for them to understand the value of nature such as wildlife animals, insects, plants, rivers, glaciers, forests, oceans, and beautiful nature landscapes etc. The fact is, nature underpins our society, economy, lives, and our very existence indeed. We shouldn’t consider that nature is free, and often take it for granted and overexploit it.
Message from Ms Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of World Day for Glaciers and World Water Day: “The Andes Mountains, which supply half of the water flowing into the Amazon River, have lost between 30 and 50% of their glaciers since the 1980s and could lose 97% of their icecaps by the end of the century. The glaciers of Mount Kenya, Rwenzori and Kilimanjaro will disappear entirely by 2040 if no action is taken, while the Hindu Kush-Karakoram-Himalayan system, commonly referred to as the ‘Third Pole’, is projected to lose half of its glacier volume by the year 2100.”
In 2025, World Water Day focuses on glacier preservation. UNESCO and the World Meteorological Organization are the UN lead agencies for the celebration. Glaciers serve as natural freshwater reservoirs, releasing meltwater that supports drinking water supplies, agriculture, industry, and healthy ecosystems. They provide essential benefits such as climate regulation and protection from natural hazards. Preserving glaciers is vital for the well-being of individuals and communities worldwide. Through the implementation of sustainable glacier management and monitoring practices, humanity can protect these frozen reservoirs that still hold approximately 70% of Earth’s freshwater. Implementing sustainable management practices and fostering international scientific cooperation are vital steps in preserving these critical water sources, ensuring long-term prosperity and promoting global peace. World Water Day Safeguarding Water, an Important Element of Life for Humans and Living Things
World Water Day Calls for “Save Our Glaciers” and “Let the Glacier Cool”. Glaciers and Water belong to the same entity and complement each other. The cryosphere, composing glaciers, snow, ice and permafrost, plays an important role in regulating the Earth’s climate and ecosystem stability. The cryosphere is crucial for regulating sea levels and ensuring the supply of fresh water for billions of people around the world. However, as glaciers and ice sheets melt, the effects ripple across the globe, threatening water supplies and increasing the risk of catastrophic natural events. Glaciers play an essential role in the global water cycle, storing nearly two-thirds of all the freshwater on Earth—they are the water towers of the world. Hong Kong Will Legend “Let the Glacier Cool” calls for global action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate global warming. Let the “World Water Tower”, “Asian Water Tower” continue to fulfill the mission given by nature and protect water, an important element of life for humans and living things. Safeguarding the Last Pure Water on Earth
Human survival is inseparable from pure water, food and air. Glaciers conserve clean freshwater resources, and water nourishes land with rich nutrients. Water then follows rivers and merges into oceans to Let the Ocean Breathe. Oceans exhale oxygen, and absorb the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide to Let the Glacier Cool, glaciers maintain a balance of accumulation and ablation, stabilize the planet’s temperatures, enable sustainable water resources, and foster biodiversity and food in Urban Wildlife Corridor. This recurring force of nature ultimately allows the health, peace and prosperity of humans and nature to develop sustainably. Hong Kong Will Legend created “Green-blueprint” which uniting the public to achieve lasting social peace, build a livable planet. Supporting different regions to promote green development in an orderly manner according to their own conditions, practicing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Will Legend and the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences Work Together to Protect the “Asian Water Tower”
“World Water Day” is held annually on 22 March, as a means of drawing public attention on the importance of freshwater to humans and organisms. At the same time, it promotes Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6) – clean drinking water and sanitation to address the global water crisis. The Urumqi River originates from the No. 1 Glacier near Tianger II Peak in the central Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang – Tianshan No. 1 Glacier. Preserving glaciers is vital for the well-being of individuals and communities worldwide. The World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) has selected more than 40 glaciers to represent mountain glaciers around the world, and Tianshan No. 1 Glacier is the only reference glacier located in China. Will Legend and the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences are promoting the sustainable management of glaciers and water resources through the “Let the Glacier Cool” programme to protect the Urumqi River, and the “Asian Water Tower”. The 1st World Day for Glaciers and World Water Day Held at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris On March 20 to 21, 2025, Chinese Glaciologists, Meteorologists and Expert Representatives, including Professor Yao Tandong, Professor Li Zhongqin, Professor Wang Feiteng etc., attended a High-level Event at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris to jointly celebrate the First World Day for Glaciers and World Water Day 2025, and Mr. Yao Tandong made a speech for Session 1 – Scientific Research: Cryosphere Observation and Modelling. As part of the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation 2025, a joint celebration of the World Day for Glaciers and World Water Day highlights the accelerating threat of glacier melt and its impact on water security, communities and ecosystems. With glaciers melting at record rates, the joint celebration will highlight the importance of “White Giants” as guardians of the “World’s Water Tower” for the billions of people who depend on them. 
UN Released 2025 World Water Development Report
The 2025 United Nations World Water Development Report (UN WWDR) focuses on mountain waters and their critical role as the world’s ‘water towers’. The report emphasizes mountains as essential sources of freshwater, vital for meeting basic human needs, ensuring food and energy security for billions of people both in mountain regions and downstream areas. The UN WWDR 2025 highlights the urgent challenges mountain water systems are facing, particularly the rapidly changing mountain cryosphere due to global climate change. The report draws special attention to the accelerating glacier melt, decreasing snow cover, and increasing permafrost thaw, which are making water flows from mountains more erratic and uncertain. People living on the “Roof of the World” understand the value of clean water and pure land. There are many ancient glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau (Earth’s Third Pole) including Xinjiang. Glacier is magnificent, but it becomes very helpless and vulnerable when it faces the enemy of climate change. Glaciers have a very important function, which is to regulate solid and liquid water (glacier accumulation and glacier ablation). The greenhouse gases and black carbon suspended particles on the surface of ice and snow accelerates the rate of glacier ablation on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Eventually the lake level may rise, flooding the grasslands and villages. Another situation is that, if the glaciers disappear due to rapid melting, the lakes and oases will also become dry land, and the livestock and local people that depend on it will not be able to continue. Will Legend promotes “Green-blueprint 1.5°C” to mitigate 1.5°C, safeguards the endangered “White Giants” and “World’s Water Tower”. What 1.5°C means and why it matters. Every fraction of a degree of warming matters. For some countries and vulnerable ecosystems, with every additional increment of global warming, changes in extremes and risks become larger. Under the Paris Agreement, countries agreed to substantially reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to enable the long-term global average surface temperature increase to be kept well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C. Glacier, Land and Ocean draw Will Legend’s “Green-blueprint” which connects different sectors to promote Green Economy, Climate Finance and Clean Energy to Respond to Climate Change.
With over 2 billion people depending on glacier and snowmelt for freshwater—and projections showing that one-third of glacier sites could disappear by 2050—raising awareness and taking action to protect these vital ecosystems is urgent. It is in this context and to celebrate World Day for Glaciers (21 March) and World Water Day (22 March) that UNESCO and partners are launching the 2025 edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report Mountains and Glaciers: Water Towers, which highlights the importance of mountain waters for the Planet.
Will Legend Starts from Xinjiang Tianshan No. 1 Glacier and Sichuan Dagu Glacier Xinjiang Tianshan Glacier No. 1: The World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) has selected more than 40 glaciers to represent mountain glaciers around the world. Tianshan Glacier No. 1 is the only reference glacier located in China. Sichuan Dagu Glacier: In 2024, Global Glacier Casualty List (GGCL) project highlights 18 renowned glaciers worldwide, chosen due to their impending disappearance and their significant scientific and economic value, to raise awareness on the drastic changes glaciers are undergoing and the urgency of their preservation. Dagu Glacier is the only glacier from China included in the list. 
Protecting Glaciers and Cryosphere is an Important Measure for SDG-in-China China Actions On March 16, “2025 International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation” Dagu Glacier International Academic Summit Forum. Liss Marie Andreassen, President, International Association of Cryospheric Sciences; Qin Dahe, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, President of the Chinese Society of Cryosphere Sciences (CSCS); Yao Tandong, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Co-chair of Third Pole Environment (TPE) Science Committee, President of the China Society on Tibetan Plateau; Feng Qi, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Director General of Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences. They delivered speeches in succession. The academic forum passed keynote reports, special reports, and the “Let the Glacier Cool” Initiative, safeguarding Glaciers, Glacial Water Resource, Cryosphere. 
On March 17, a meaningful Conservation and Education Programme “Let the glacier Cool”! Including Zhang Changchun, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wang Gang, Director of the Dagu Glacier Administration Bureau, Li Zhongqin, Professor of the Xinjiang Tianshan Glacier National Field Scientific Observation and Research Station (Tianshan Glaciological Station), Professor, Director of the State Scientific Institution “Center for Glacier Research” of the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan, and Will Legend William Hung, global scholars gathered together to promote the “Let the Glacier Cool” Initiative on the Dagu Glacier. At the same time, the audience held 200 small balloons and participated in the release of them, calling on more people to pay attention to global climate change through actions. Glacier melt is not only related to ecological balance, but also closely related to global water security and climate change! Will Legend “Green-blueprint” promotes the United Nations’ “2025 International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation, World Day for Glaciers, World Water Day, and Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences” Initiatives. “Let the Glacier Cool” Preserving the “White Giants” and “World’s Water Tower”
Will Legend created the “Green-blueprint – Glacier, Land and Ocean Conservation and Education Programmes” to inspire the public to live in balance with nature, and “Educating and Promoting” the protection of the most important elements of human life – water, food and air, as the cornerstone of environmental governance; promote better allocation of social resources, and builds lasting peace and inclusive community; practice low-carbon, non-toxic services and products to build good health and well-being. Will Legend is the founding organization of the “Let the Glacier Cool” Conservation and Education Programme, and is very honored to invite the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Dagu Glacier Administration Bureau as co-sponsoring organizations. Safeguarding fresh water resources for billions of people around the world. “Let the Glacier Cool” Conservation and Education Programme is part of the “Glacier” under the “Green-blueprint”, taking the Xinjiang Tianshan No. 1 Glacier and Sichuan Dagu Glacier as the starting points, and promoting “Let the Glacier Cool” to cool the Earth and slow down the rate of glacier melting. Glaciers cover about 11% of the Earth’s land area and contain about 70% of the world’s fresh water resources, serve as natural freshwater reservoirs, releasing meltwater that supports drinking water supplies, agriculture, industry, and healthy ecosystems. Glaciers provide essential benefits such as climate regulation and protection from natural hazards. Will Legend together with the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Dagu Glacier Administration Bureau to jointly launch the “Green-blueprint – Let the Glacier Cool” educational course and the “Third Pole Glacier Tour”. Through the country’s first glacier protection joint action, the first “Third Pole Hong Kong Glacier Landmark” and “Third Pole Hong Kong Glacier Museum” were established on the Dagu Glacier on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to promote the preservation the fragile “Asian Water Tower”. “Let the Glacier Cool ” took the lead in injecting start-up funds into the “Glacier Research and Talent Training Project” of the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, as a means of training scientific research talents, promoting the sustainable development of glacier ecology and glacial water resources, and implementing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG6) – water and sanitation for all by 2030. Will Legend “Let the Glacier Cool” advocates the protection of glaciers, glacial water resources, and the cryosphere. In education, Will Legend organizes Education for Sustainable Development Activities (ESD Activities) for schools, Green-blueprint Sustainable Conservation Curriculum, Green School Talk SDG4™, ESD&STEAM Self-study Channel™ and SDG&STEAM™ Educational Tour (Study Tour), to implement the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for Quality Education (SDG4). Will Legend provides and organizes “Green-blueprint” for enterprises and organizations: ESG&ClimateAction™ Event, SDG-in-China™ Research Trip, 1.5°C Climate Action SDG13™, ESG Action Plan Strategy™ Meeting, SDG&ESG Environmental Protection and Social-philanthropy Sponsorship Opportunity. Will Legend connects different sectors to jointly respond to the pressing global challenges of the 21st century through action, promotes the United Nations’ 2025 International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation, World Day for Glaciers, and Decade of Cryosphere Science Action Initiatives and the three “Rio Conventions”, advocates faster reductions in carbon emissions, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, reduces climate disasters, and implements the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for Climate Action (SDG13) and the 1.5 Climate Goal.
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