Our World

Mountains Losing Their Ice Cover

Africa’s two chief mountains, Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya are predicted to lose their ice/snow cover in the next 25 to 50 years. The only way to prevent this from happening is to stop the deforestation and to halt industrial pollution. The article stated that over the last 80 years Mt. Kilimanjaro has lost an amazing 82% of the ice cover and Mt. Kenya over the last 100 years has lost an astonishing 92% of its glaciers.
There is a plan of attack with help from the French Agency for Development and the Green Belt Movement who are preparing to plant 2 million trees in the next 50 years over an area of 4,942 acres on the mountains. There is an excess of carbon so the trees will offset the carbon and absorb approximately 800,000 tons of CO2 before 2017. Interestingly The World Bank, as mentioned in our text as a top agency, will buy the carbon under a Bio-Carbon Fund. The U.N. Framework on Climate Change has requirements and under a carbon credit program, industrial countries are required by a treaty to cut their greenhouse-gas emissions but can receive carbon credit in poor countries.
As I’m learning more in our geography class, I find it really disturbing that a large amount of the ice cover on the mountains is being lost and presenting such a crucial situation. Again this is another situation that could have been prevented if 20 years of humans clearing trees for farming hadn’t happened. Literally “millions of people depend on the 7 rivers” as water sources along with power generated by dams. These mountains are also very popular tourist spots which can lead to a drop in tourism and affect the local economy.
Environmentally, it seems like we are always trying to find solutions to make up for past mistakes. Maybe the original intent isn’t meant to be harmful, but hopefully, we’re learning and asking more frequently, “If we do this, what are the causes and effects of our actions? How will the past, present, and future be affected by our acts?
www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/africa/10/12/Kenya.enviroment.ap/index.html

posted by Anonymous @ 10/19/2006 01:32:00 PM