If you want to develop your listening skills, try these tasks as you listen to the text. The answers are at the bottom of this page. Thanks to Natasha Groves for preparing the tasks.
If you want to listen and read, just scroll down to the text.
You can use the vocabulary list to check the meanings of some words before you listen.
Vocabulary
glacier – a slow-moving river of ice
shrink (past tense, shrank) – to become smaller
spokesperson – a person who speaks on behalf of a group or organisation
pace – speed at which something happens
hydropower – electricity produced using the power of water
irrigation – supplying land or crops with water
coastal – of or near a coast
hiking – the activity of taking long walks in the mountains or country
mountaineering – the activity of climbing mountains
Try these activities while listening
1. Listening for main ideas
First, just listen to the text, taking notes if you wish. What information can you catch during this first listening?
2. Now listen again and answer the following questions:
- In what time period did New Zealand’s glaciers shrink by 42 percent?
- What does research which was published in December show?
- What happened between April 2022 and March 2023?
- What is happening to glaciers all around the world?
- What will happen if the world warms by 2.7 degrees Celsius?
- What has happened to the glaciers’ pace of change?
- In New Zealand, why are glaciers important?
- Why are glaciers important for the tourism industry?
News story
According to data from April 2025, New Zealand’s glaciers shrank by 42 percent between 2005 and 2023. Further research published in December shows that almost all of New Zealand’s glaciers could disappear completely if global warming continues at its current rate.
Stats NZ released figures in April which showed that total glacier ice volumes decreased by 22 km3 (cubic kilometres) in that eighteen-year period. Between April 2022 and March 2023, ice volumes dropped 6.5 percent, or 2.1 km3. A Stats NZ spokesperson said that “these changes in glacier volumes are important indicators of climate change”. Glaciers all around the world are melting in a similar way.
The research published in Nature Climate Change in December used computer modelling to estimate the number of glaciers around the world that will completely melt, depending on the level of warming above pre-industrial levels. For example, if the world warms by 2.7 degrees Celsius, 87 percent of New Zealand’s 3300 glaciers will disappear by the end of this century. The researchers also said they are shocked at how fast the glaciers are already changing. They said the pace of change has increased in the last five to ten years.
In New Zealand, glaciers are important because when they melt in summer, they add water to the rivers which are used for hydropower electricity generation and for irrigation. If the glaciers become smaller, less ice would melt in summer. This could reduce the amount of electricity generated, for example. In addition, melting glaciers change the shape and flow of rivers, raise sea levels, and add to coastal erosion. This adds to the impacts of climate change. Another reason why glaciers are important for New Zealand is that they are a tourist attraction. People come to see the glaciers or to go hiking or mountaineering on them. If the glaciers shrink, people will not be able to access them so easily, which will have an impact on the economy. Consequently, glacier researchers said that it is important to try to limit global warming to avoid these serious consequences.
Answers – you don’t have to write a complete sentence as long as you have the key idea in your answer.
a. In what time period did New Zealand’s glaciers shrink by 42 percent?
Between 2005 and 2023
b. What does research which was published in December show?
Almost all of New Zealand’s glaciers could disappear completely if global warming continues at its current rate.
c. What happened between April 2022 and March 2023?
Ice volumes dropped 6.5 percent, or 2.1 km3
d. What is happening to glaciers all around the world?
They are melting in a similar way
e. What will happen if the world warms by 2.7 degrees Celsius?
87 percent of New Zealand’s 3300 glaciers will disappear by the end of this century
f. What has happened to the glaciers’ pace of change?
It has increased in the last five to ten years
g. In New Zealand, why are glaciers important?
When they melt in summer, they add water to the rivers which are used for hydropower electricity generation and for irrigation
h. Why are glaciers important for the tourism industry?
People come to see the glaciers or to go hiking or mountaineering on them.