Papua's tropical glaciers are almost gone

Some of the last tropical glaciers on Earth, high on Puncak Jaya in Indonesia's West Papua, are almost gone. A tropical glacier is a permanent sheet of ice near the equator, rare because the tropics are usually too warm for ice to survive. Writing in the Guardian, reporters followed an expedition led by the Danish explorer Klaus Thymann that measured how little is left.

The numbers are stark. The main remaining glacier, known locally as "eternal snow," has lost 95 percent of its area since 2002. A separate study by Indonesian researchers, led by Francine Hematang of Papua University, found that Papua's tropical glaciers lost 97 percent of their ice between 1980 and 2024, with four of the six already gone and the last two expected to disappear before 2030. Another study found the ice has shrunk by more than 99 percent since 1850. Scientists link the loss to about 1.4 degrees Celsius of warming since preindustrial times, made worse by the returning El Niño weather pattern.

The place is hard to reach, both because it is remote and because it sits in West Papua, a region in dispute since Indonesia took control in the 1960s, where conflict continues. The last major scientific trips there were in 1973 and 2011, which is part of why this loss has gone largely unwatched until now.

Why it matters

Losing these glaciers is a visible sign of how fast a warming climate is changing Indonesia, from its highest peaks to its coasts and farms. For Papuans, the ice carries cultural meaning, and its loss marks a permanent change to the landscape. Watch how Indonesia records and responds to climate shifts like this, because the same warming drives floods, droughts, and stronger storms elsewhere in the country.