Our planet’s roof is most vulnerable to climate change. Glaciers melt before our eyes and snow-covered peaks become a souvenir from the past. Hence the world’s ‘water towers’ are vanishing with potentially major consequences for downstream ecosystems and large human populations. In this lecture, Tom Battin, professor of environmental sciences at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), will revisit current knowledge on the impacts of this unprecedented environmental change with a focus on aquatic ecosystems and their biogeochemistry. Referring to studies across the world’s major mountain ranges, from the Andes to the Tibetan Plateau, Battin will draw conclusions on potential feedbacks of this environmental change to the climate.

In collaboration with the Institut Grand-ducal, Section des sciences.