The two largest mountains in Africa, Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya , are expected to lose their ice cap covering within the next 25 to 50 years. Environmentalists say the mountains will, without a doubt, completely lose all of their snow coverings if the air pollution and deforestation is not slowed down or stopped. Over the past 80 Mt. Kilimanjaro has already lost 82% of its white cover. Over the most 100 years Mt. Kenya , one of the only mountains near the equator with permanent ice caps, has lost 90% of its snow.
Both mountains are a large supply of water, as many rivers Kenya lead from them. These rivers are very important to water supply and generating dams. Naju, head of the Mt. Kenya Bio-Carbon Project, says “Deforestation that has a direct link to climactic change has affected negatively on the glaciers on top of Mount Kenya . Millions who depend on the seven rivers that depend on Mount Kenya will be affected because some of the rivers are seasonal and may dry up.” The World Bank is offering to buy carbon through its carbon credit program. There is also the Mt. Kenya tree planting project in which farmers are claiming the trees will absorb about 800,000 tons of carbon before the year 2017.
