Name: Loss of glaciers puts Mount Kenya’s unique ecosystems at risk
Uploaded: 2025-12-24T15:05:46.650Z
Duration: 3 min 19 s
Description: Mount Kenya has lost 95% of its glaciers, and forests cut to a third; climate change and deforestation push ecosystems towards extinction.

Mount Kenya has lost 95% of its glaciers, and forests cut to a third; climate change and deforestation push ecosystems towards extinction.

Nanyuki

Mount Kenya has lost about 95% of its glaciers, primarily due to rising atmospheric temperatures and reduced moisture, according to a recent report. This loss threatens the mountain's unique ecological zones, which are home to diverse plant and animal species, and also impacts local communities that depend on meltwater for farming.

Deforestation, driven by historical and ongoing agricultural expansion, has reduced the original forest cover to just a third of its former extent. Local initiatives, such as forest restoration projects managed by the Mount Kenya Trust, aim to support both conservation and the livelihoods of small-scale farmers, but the rapid changes in climate continue to put the region’s biodiversity at risk.

Loss of glaciers puts Mount Kenya’s unique ecosystems at risk

The disappearance of the glaciers from the top of Mount Kenya threatens a whole series of unique ecological zones below them. As we ascend the western side of the mountain, we're walking through heathlands dominated by giant heathers and shrubs. And the biodiversity found in these highland tropical areas is far greater than anything that's found on the lowlands. Below here, there used to be a belt of highland tropical forest, but most of it's already been destroyed. Ecological remains show that around three centuries ago, there were about 5,000 square kilometres of forest on the mountainsides. It was steadily lost to farmland to meet the needs of a growing population. From around 1910, deforestation accelerated rapidly as British colonial settlers cleared fertile slopes for large-scale farming. Now, only about a third of the original forest is left, about 95% of the glaciers have been lost to climate change, and the loss of their meltwater threatens everything growing on the slopes below. It's small-scale farmers like Lucy Nyawira who may pay the highest price, but for now, she says growing crops in a forest reserve has boosted her income. Potatoes can grow as well as the trees, and when I take care of the potatoes, I'm even weeding for the trees, and they grow well. Lucy farms here as part of a project to restore the forest. As the trees mature, the farmers are given access to new plots. It's managed by the Mount Kenya Trust. Humphrey Munene started running its first community programmes 25 years ago. These are vulnerable people. Their voice may not be heard, even if they talk, because, of course, the big companies and the developed countries have a lot of say in what is happening. To me, it's not fair. Fires have grown worse in recent years as the mountain's climate changes. Kenya's responsible for about one thousandth of the world's carbon emissions, which in 2025 reached a record high. That's bad news for all the creatures here. We passed colonies of rock hyraxes as we continued our ascent. They live among plants that are unique to this environment, which is shrinking towards the rocky summits. Climate scientists call it the escalator to extinction. Further up the mountain, the heathland breaks out into moorland. But here, few of the plants grow above knee height. That's because they're exposed to the elements, elements which are rapidly changing. The atmospheric temperature is increasing. The moisture in the air is reducing. That's what's causing the glaciers to disappear. And it's causing all of these unique ecosystems to shift upwards and these unique ecological zones to shrink forever. Malcolm Webb, Al Jazeera, Mount Kenya.

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