Mount Kenya Glaciers in Crisis: Rapid Melt Observed
Mount Kenya's glaciers, once a significant feature of the landscape, are rapidly disappearing due to climate change. Recent studies show a drastic reduction in ice coverage, threatening the local ecosystem and tourism. While conservation efforts are underway, experts warn the glaciers may be gone within a few decades.
Mount Kenya Glaciers Vanishing Fast as a Result of Climate Change
Mount Kenya, the second-tallest mountain in Africa, is losing its glaciers at a very high rate, with ice cover on the mountain being just 4.2% of its historical size as compared to the earliest records in 1900. Recent studies indicate that the Lewis Glacier, which covered most of the mountain, lost 90% of its volume between 1934 and 2010. This is most likely to be the situation because global warming continues to accelerate glacier melting globally.
Scientists attribute increasing global temperatures, specifically within the Indian Ocean, to cause reduced snow cover on Mount Kenya. Without sufficient snow to cover the glaciers and protect them from the sun's radiation, the ice is rapidly melting. The environmental change has significant effects, not just on the mountain's distinctive landscapes and vegetation, but on the local people who rely on the glacial meltwater. Although the glaciers were never substantial enough to classify as good reservoirs for water, melting them does affect usable water for nearby towns.
The Mount Kenya glaciers are less well known than Mount Kilimanjaro's glaciers but serve an important function not just in science research but also in tourism. With the ice melting, the Mount Kenya surface, which previously had been defined by ice and snow cover, has been changed to rock exposure, a reality experienced by the guides and porters who have worked for decades carrying out their work on the mountain. The melting of the ice is also impacting the technical climbing paths on the mountain that previously depended on the glaciers for it.
Local conservation practices like planting trees at the foot of the mountain are designed to prevent melting of the snow, but according to experts, this will be temporary. UNESCO hydrologists explain that glaciers no longer discharge huge volumes of water in regional systems and within a span of five years, man could lose a whole generation that would never have the chance to see Africa's glaciers. Unless there is a sudden shift in present trends, Mount Kenya might be one of Africa's great mountains to lose its glaciers completely.
Source: AFP
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