Africa's highest mountain, Kilimanjaro, has lost 82% of its ice cap. This was reported on the eve of the summit of meteorologists in Nairobi by Frederick Nyaua, an activist of the Kenyan Society for Environmental Protection. In addition, according to him, Kenya, one of the few equatorial peaks where permanent glaciers exist, has lost 92% of its ice cover. The ecologist explained that the decrease in Kilimanjaro's ice cover has been recorded over the last 80 years, and the Kenyan ice has been melting for a whole century. If the situation around the mountains does not change, then over the next 25-50 years both mountains will remain completely without snow.
Both peaks can be considered strategic points of Africa: their glaciers feed most of the continent's rivers, including the largest ones, the Congo and the Nile. When the glaciers melt, the water supply will sharply decrease, and the rivers will partially become shallower and mostly dry up. According to Frederick Nyaua, both local and global warming play a role in the melting of glaciers, and the African continent, due to its geographical location, is most sensitive to changes in average annual temperature parameters.
The ecologist admitted that the inhabitants of the areas around the melting mountains cannot cope with global processes – that is a task for the world community. However, they can change the situation through more local means. In particular, one of the main reasons for the melting of glaciers is deforestation. Due to the reduction of forest areas, less moisture is released into the atmosphere to replenish the glacier thickness. The areas left after deforestation turn into hot "frying pans," significantly increasing the temperature.
Environmental organizations in Kenya and the World Bank have developed a project that could slow down the melting process. The bank will provide a cash loan, and the government has promised to spend it on planting new forests. According to ecologists' calculations, the new trees will be enough to absorb 800 thousand tons of CO2 by 2017. True, there is no guarantee that this will save the mountain glaciers from melting, since local measures have almost no effect on global processes.
Kilimanjaro (5,895 meters) and Kenya (5,199 meters) are located in regions with a large number of rivers. From their peaks originate such large rivers as the Pangani, Tana, Galana, Ewaso Nyiro, Tsavo, Athi, Lugarde, flowing through the territories of Kenya and Tanzania. The largest rivers of Africa – the Congo and the Nile – are also fed by glacial waters. If their replenishment stops, millions of inhabitants of the continent will suffer.
Dmitry GUSEV.
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