Kilimanjaro Snow Gone By 2015
Africa's highest mountain could lose its year round snow cover in as little as 14 years says environmental group Greenpeace
Posted: 8 November 2001
by Jon
Kilimanjaro could lose its year-round snowfields by 2015 because
of climate change said Greenpeace on Tuesday.
In this
story, the Environmental News Network reports on a Greenpeace
video-link press conference broadcast from the slopes of the mountain
to draw attention to the consequences of climate change and the
importance of U.N. talks on the Kyoto Protocol climate change treaty
held in Marrakesh.
The 5896-metre snow-capped volcano is the highest mountain in
Africa and a popular trekking destination. It's one of the few places
on the equator where there is permanent snow, Ecuador, with its
6000-metre volcanoes is another. Yet the snow is melting fast.
In February geological sciences professor Lonnie Thompson of Ohio
State University said that at least one-third of Kilimanjaro's ice
field had disappeared in the past 12 year. More than 80 percent of
the ice field has been lost since it was first mapped in 1912.
"The snow you see now might disappear in 10-20 years," said
Greenpeace spokesman Joris Thijssen adding that the situation is the
same in many other mountain areas including Peru and Alaska.
While for trekkers, the issue may be an aesthetic one, the effects
on eco-systems could be colossal with the loss of snow melt impacting
on afgriculture and health throughout the world.
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