Mt. Kenya is Losing Crucial Ice Mass, Says NGO Official
East African Standard
October 12, 2006
Wangari Maathai with a member of the Green Belt Movement, 1999. Photograph by Mary Davidson.
The snow-capped Mt. Kenya has lost 92 per cent of its largest mass of ice in the last 100 years.
The Lewis glacier on top of the mountain could disappear in a few years time.
The Green Belt Movement has started a Sh150 million project to reverse the trend.
The mountain is a major tourist attraction in the country.
The project aimed at reducing the amount of carbon dioxide would soon be launched in two-water towers of Aberdare and Mount Kenya forests.
The Green Belt Movement project is partly funded by World Bank.
The project's co-ordinator, Mr. Fredrick Njau, said pressure for firewood and charcoal had degraded the forest and called for re-afforestation.
"The impacts of rising carbon dioxide concentrations and temperature are already visible," he said.
Njau said the glaciers at the scenic snow-covered mountain were shrinking fast, threatening water supply for millions of people. The movement planned to launch a fund, Biocarbon Fund, which will see trees planted in more than 4,000 hectares of the Aberdares and Mt. Kenya forests.
The project is expected to have conserved about 800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide in 10 years. The project will cover Nyeri, Meru, Kiambu and Nyandarua districts.
The impact of rising carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere, according to Njau, had led to serious ecological and climate changes.
Nobel Peace laureate, Prof Wangari Maathai, has warned that unless the Government managed forests well, the country would be turned into a desert.
Meanwhile, than 200 squatters have allegedly invaded a forest in Ijara District in which rare birds and animals live.
Ijara County Council chairman, Mr Dubat Ali Amey, said the squatters believed to be from Lamu District invaded the 277-hectare indigenous forest last month.
Speaking at our Mombasa offices yesterday, Amey warned that the habitat of the rare birds, monkeys, wild dogs and hirola antelopes was a risk.
Other animals at the forest include lions, leopards, elephants and buffaloes.
He urged the state to deploy forest guards and Kenya Wildlife Service personnel to protect the forest from destruction. A lake in the forest is home to hundreds of hippos and attracts lots of birds.
The Lewis glacier on top of the mountain could disappear in a few years time.
The Green Belt Movement has started a Sh150 million project to reverse the trend.
The mountain is a major tourist attraction in the country.
The project aimed at reducing the amount of carbon dioxide would soon be launched in two-water towers of Aberdare and Mount Kenya forests.
The Green Belt Movement project is partly funded by World Bank.
The project's co-ordinator, Mr. Fredrick Njau, said pressure for firewood and charcoal had degraded the forest and called for re-afforestation.
"The impacts of rising carbon dioxide concentrations and temperature are already visible," he said.
Njau said the glaciers at the scenic snow-covered mountain were shrinking fast, threatening water supply for millions of people. The movement planned to launch a fund, Biocarbon Fund, which will see trees planted in more than 4,000 hectares of the Aberdares and Mt. Kenya forests.
The project is expected to have conserved about 800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide in 10 years. The project will cover Nyeri, Meru, Kiambu and Nyandarua districts.
The impact of rising carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere, according to Njau, had led to serious ecological and climate changes.
Nobel Peace laureate, Prof Wangari Maathai, has warned that unless the Government managed forests well, the country would be turned into a desert.
Meanwhile, than 200 squatters have allegedly invaded a forest in Ijara District in which rare birds and animals live.
Ijara County Council chairman, Mr Dubat Ali Amey, said the squatters believed to be from Lamu District invaded the 277-hectare indigenous forest last month.
Speaking at our Mombasa offices yesterday, Amey warned that the habitat of the rare birds, monkeys, wild dogs and hirola antelopes was a risk.
Other animals at the forest include lions, leopards, elephants and buffaloes.
He urged the state to deploy forest guards and Kenya Wildlife Service personnel to protect the forest from destruction. A lake in the forest is home to hundreds of hippos and attracts lots of birds.