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The Highest African Mountains Are Losing Their Ice Cap This is due to deforestation and pollution	By Stefan Anitei, Science Editor 16th of October 2006, 14:38 GMT Adjust text size:


Within 25 to 50 years Africa's mountain glaciers will be gone for good. Deforestation and pollution have already made a big gap on the top glaciers of Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya. These are two of the very few places near equator where glaciers can be found. Kilimanjaro is the highest African mountain (5890 m) (photo above) and Mount Kenya (photo bellow) is the second highest mountain in Africa (5199 m). Both mountains attract a lot of mountaineers, hikers and tourists. "Kilimanjaro has already lost 82 percent of its ice cover over 80 years", said Fredrick Njau of the Kenyan Green Belt Movement. Mount Kenya has witnessed how 92 % of its ice cap vanished in the last century. "This is a major issue because declining ice caps mean the water tap is effectively going to be turned off and that is a major concern,'' said Nick Nuttall from the U.N.'s Environment Program. "All the evidence shows climate change is underway and Africa is the must vulnerable continent to this," he said. "Industrial nations also need to step up support to help poor nations adapt to global warming with drought and heat resistant crops and alternative energy sources so people do not cut down trees for fuel", Nuttall said. "African forests," he added, "are soaking up pollution from industrialized nations for free and should reap some kind of reward or benefit for that". "The two mountains will lose their ice mass in the coming 25 to 50 years if deforestation and industrial pollution are not brought to an end,'' said Njau, who heads the organization's Mount Kenya Bio-Carbon Project. A $2 million project coordinated by Green Belt Movement and the French Agency for Development is meant for planting 2 million trees on 4,942 acres in the next three decades within the areas of Mount Kenya and Aberdare Mountains (4001 m) ( Kenya), situated at several km west off Mount Kenya. These mountains are very important in the hydrological system of Kenya, being the origin for many rivers that are major sources of water and hydrological power. "Deforestation that has a direct link to climactic change has affected negatively on the glaciers on top of Mount Kenya,'' said Njau. "Millions who depend on the seven rivers that depend on Mount Kenya will be affected because some of the rivers are seasonal and may dry up.'' "For more than 20 years, squatters cleared trees surrounding Mount Kenya (to make way) for farming,'' he said. "We are trying to offset carbon in the atmosphere and the World Bank told us that they will buy our carbon through its carbon credits program," Njau said. "Through the Mount Kenya and Aberdares tree-planting project, the Green Belt Movement expects the trees will absorb about 800,000 tons of carbon dioxide before 2017", Njau said. The carbon will be bought by World Bank through the Bio-Carbon Fund which reunites private companies and governments. Carbon credits are required by the Kyoto protocol of the U.N. Framework Treaty on Climate Change. Industrial developed countries are forced by treaty to decrease their greenhouse effect or instead, they can credit for reductions in the developing countries.

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