The latest report from the Icelandic government's Committee on Climate Change has warned that the country's glaciers will have all but disappeared by the next century, contributing to the threat of sea level rises, a British broadcaster has reported.
Europe's largest glacier, Iceland's Vatnajokull, is melting because of rising temperatures and reduced snow fall, Sky News said.
The glacier currently covers an area of 8,000 square kilometres and at its deepest point is more than 900 metres thick.
But according to glaciologists, the glacier is now melting at a rate of a metre a year, and climate change could quicken this process further.
Leading glaciologist Finnur Palsson of the University of Iceland told Sky News that glaciers would melt, meaning sea levels will rise with catastrophic effects for highly populated areas all over the globe.
People in these vulnerable low-lying areas will have to move to higher ground to evade the rising waters.
In the short term, Iceland itself might enjoy some benefits, including an increase in hydroelectric power potential because of the increase in glacial water flow.
And for some, like farmer Olafur Eggertsson, the warmer temperatures in Iceland have lengthened his growing season, meaning higher profits for his produce.
He has even been able to grow Iceland's first crop of wheat, Sky reported.
APTN