Our mission, our vision and our values

Montagne bolivienne
Convinced that safeguarding a heritage of ice coming from glaciers in danger of disappearing highlights the responsibility held by today’s generation, the international, scientific and institutional community has decided to take action.

Our mission

• Define and drive the international strategy - scientific and diplomatic - of the Ice Memory initiative by being representative of and recognized by the international community,
• Establish long term vision, drive the roadmap of the Ice Memory initiative and provide the resources to implement it,
• Ensure with scientific and diplomatic partners the establishment of the necessary conditions for the very long-term sustainability of the Ice Memory initiative.

Our vision

Glaciers are known to contain the memory of past climate and environment. The Ice Memory initiative aims to collect, save and manage ice cores from selected glaciers currently in danger of degradation or disappearance, with their yielded information for decades and centuries to come.

Safeguarding these ice cores is key to provide scientific advances and knowledge, that will ultimately contribute to the well-being of humanity.

The Ice Memory Foundation federates the scientific and institutional communities in order to create, under international governance, an Antarctic legacy of heritage ice cores. Future generation of scientists will therefore have access to high-quality ice cores in order to pursue their research.

Our values

Ice Memory is an international initiative, based on strong common values:
• Trust in science
• Disinterested cooperation
• Confidence in future generations
• Independence


The Ice Memory Foundation is at the service of the partners involved in the Ice Memory initiative, in all their diversity, in order to ensure the conditions for its success.

Bolivie - Equipe carottage
Published on  October 11, 2019
Updated on March 20, 2023