Broken/Special:Badtitle/NS101:JamesMoore/Glaciers in Chile 'melt at fastest rate in 350 years'/c000010

Yes I also wondered why it was important. I found something that also looks useful for explaining it:

Glaciers Worldwide are Melting Fast

The last century has been a problem for glaciers across the globe. They are melting, but at an alarming rate. Fresh snow that replaces the melting ice is not able to maintain the size of almost any glacier worldwide. One of the main causes for this is thought to be 'global warming'. As the average global temperature keeps on increasing, ice from glaciers keep melting faster.

The effects of ice glaciers melting more than required can cause catastrophes of unimaginable proportions. If global warming is causing ice glaciers to melt faster, the reduced ice cover over earth in turn is causing temperatures to rise further. Ice glaciers deflect almost 80% of the heat from the sun and absorb about 20% of the heat. When an ice glacier vanishes and exposes the earth below, 80% of the heat from the sun is absorbed by the earth, and only about 20% of this heat is deflected back.

This increases the temperature of the earth, which increases the temperature of sea water. Sea water expands with an increase in water temperature and causes sea levels to rise. Melting water from glaciers will finally empty into the sea, causing a further increase in sea levels. All low lying areas near the sea will go under water and humans living here will be displaced. At the rate at which sea levels are rising, it is estimated that many South American and Asian countries will be the first to suffer from this effect.

There are many more effects that..

Source: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/global-warming-and-melting-glaciers.html