Name: Mount Kenya glaciers to vanish by 2030, experts warn
Uploaded: 2025-12-23T15:26:23.503Z
Duration: 3 min 14 s
Description: Scientists say key indicators of global warming reached record or near-record levels in 2025. In Africa, mountaintop glaciers are melting faster than ever recorded. The remaining glaciers on Mount Kenya are expected to disappear by around 2030.

Scientists say key indicators of global warming reached record or near-record levels in 2025. In Africa, mountaintop glaciers are melting faster than ever recorded. The remaining glaciers on Mount Kenya are expected to disappear by around 2030.

Mount Kenya

Mount Kenya has lost 95% of its glacier ice since 1900, with scientists warning that the remaining ice could disappear within five years. The glaciers have historically acted as natural water reservoirs, releasing water seasonally and supporting millions of people living on the mountain's slopes.

As the glaciers vanish, streams and rivers fed by the mountain are shrinking, impacting agriculture, local communities, and industries such as Kenya's flower export business. Increased water demand, frequent droughts, and damaging flash floods have further strained the region's water resources, with experts linking these changes to the rapidly disappearing ice and snow on Mount Kenya.

Mount Kenya glaciers to vanish by 2030, experts warn

Most of the glaciers on top of Mount Kenya are already gone. 95% of the ice has melted since 1900. But the glaciers act as sinks, collecting water when it freezes, releasing it seasonally, and millions of people down the slopes around the mountain depend on those water supplies for their survival. So nobody knows what's going to happen to the entire ecosystem if streams like this disappear. We were taken up the mountain by Charles Muchiri. But right now you can see it's becoming smaller and smaller. Seen this mountainside waterfall steadily shrink in the 25 years he's been guiding hikers to the summit. Mount Kenya's in a nature reserve. It's uninhabited, but further down the slopes, demand for the mountain's water is going up. When Joel Mwariama started farming here 30 years ago, he says he relied entirely on rainfall until droughts became frequent. So he joined a community irrigation group that extracts and rations stream water. This water is not enough. It's not sufficient for everybody because of population. Downhill from Joel's farm, large-scale farms provide thousands of jobs. Kenya's flower export business here is growing, and so is its use of water. At a nearby river, Dennis Gikunda's childhood memories are distant. As a young boy I would stand in the river, and at least it is over my waist. He runs projects to manage the depleting water resources around the mountain. He told us in recent years the river's remained shrunken for most of the year, but when it rains, it pours. We've seen also over time there are a lot of flash floods, where during the rainy season a lot of water flows, damaging the riparian and the farms around. The mountain's streams provide most of the water for two of Kenya's major rivers, the Awaso Nyero River and the Tanna River, whose waters last year devastated the town of Garissa during Kenya's worst floods in years. The floods followed the worst drought in 40 years. The stabilising effect on water supplies of the glaciers on Mount Kenya has been all but lost. As we continued our journey to see what's left of them, we passed glacial lakes, whose beauty draws thousands of visitors every year. All of the guides that we've spoken to say many of the mountain lakes are changing rapidly. Some are growing, most are shrinking as the whole environment gets drier. Like this one, you can see the dry rocks around the edge where the water level used to be. And everyone here connects this to the rapidly disappearing ice and snow on the mountain. The little left that we can see there, scientists say could be gone in just five years. Malcolm Webb, Al Jazeera, Mount Kenya.

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