• Glaciers are among the best climate indicators in nature because their volume depends on air temperature, precipitation and energy exchange at the Earth's surface
• Scientists are now warning of dire consequences following the disappearing glaciers.
Image: COURTESY
Water shortage in the country is set to deteriorate following harsh climatic changes, as glaciers on Mount Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro vanish at an alarming rate.
This has baffled scientists who are now warning it will further have a toll on available water.
Glaciers are among the best climate indicators in nature because their volume depends on air temperature, precipitation, and energy exchange at the Earth's surface.
They act as natural reservoirs, storing water in the winter and releasing it out in the summer as the ice slowly melts.
An Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on the impacts of global warming last year said the past decade has seen an upsurge in storms, forest fires, droughts, coral bleaching, heat waves, and floods.
A new report that was first published on April 29, 2019 warns of even more challenges.
The study, Disappearing World Heritage glaciers as a keystone of nature conservation in a changing climate, warns that glaciers are set to disappear completely from almost half of some of World's Heritage sites if business-as-usual emissions continue.
The revelation is made in a first-ever global study of World Heritage glaciers, co-authored by scientists from the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Scientists looked at combined data from a global glacier inventory.
The global inventory is a review of existing literature and sophisticated computer modeling to analyse the current state of World Heritage glaciers, their recent evolution, and their projected mass change over the 21st century.
Authors in the study predict glacier extinction by 2100 under a high emission scenario in 21 of the 46 natural World Heritage sites where glaciers are found.
Even under a low emission scenario, eight of the 46 World Heritage sites will be ice-free by 2100, the study says.
The study also expects that 33 per cent to 60 per cent of the total ice volume present in 2017 will be lost by 2100, depending on the emission scenario.
Glaciers in Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya have been receding at an alarming rate.
Mount Kenya is one of Kenya's water towers and a source of numerous rivers and streams that feed Tana River.
Due to the vanishing glaciers, some of the rivers have dried up.
Millions of people upstream and downstream depend on the mountain for water.
Water wars have already been witnessed in some counties.
Scientists are now warning of dire consequences following the disappearing glaciers.
“Losing these iconic glaciers would be a tragedy and have major consequences for the availability of water resources, sea level rise, and weather patterns,”Peter Shadie, Director of IUCN’s World Heritage Programme, said.
Shadie said the unprecedented decline could also jeopardise the listing of the sites in question on the World Heritage list.
States must reinforce their commitments to combat climate change and step up efforts to preserve these glaciers for future generations.”
Kenya is home to six unique world heritage sites identified by Unesco.
The sites are clustered in different categories because of their cultural, historical, natural and archaeological value.
These world heritage sites combine to form the ultimate quintessence of the nation.
These are Lamu Old Town, Fort Jesus, Kenya's Lake Systems, Lake Nakuru National Parks, Mount Kenya National Park, and Mijikenda Kaya Forests.
The study says several iconic landscapes found in World Heritage sites will be impacted by rising temperatures.
"Beyond these alarming results, the authors emphasize the key role that glaciers play for ecosystems and societies at a global scale."
Scientists said glacier conservation could serve as a trigger to tackle the unprecedented issue of climate change.
“To preserve the iconic glaciers found in World Heritage sites, we urgently need to see significant cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. This is the only way of avoiding long-lasting and irreversible glacier decline and the related major natural, social, economic and migratory cascading consequences,” said Jean-Baptiste Bosson, lead author of the study and member of IUCN’s World Commission on Protected areas.
“This study on glacier decline further emphasizes the need for individual and collective actions to achieve the mitigation and adaptation aspirations of the Paris Agreement on climate change.”
Climate change is the fastest growing threat to natural World Heritage sites.
The authors of the study also developed the first-ever inventory of glaciers on the Unesco World Heritage list, documenting about 19,000 glaciers present in 46 out of the 247 natural World Heritage sites.