Kilimanjaro Heartland Heats Up

The snows of Kilimanjaro are melting. Recognized throughout the world as a symbol of Africa's wild beauty and majesty, Kilimanjaro is the continent's highest mountain, located in northeastern Tanzania near the border with Kenya. Its two volcanic peaks stand about seven miles apart, connected by a broad "saddle." The crater of Kibo, the higher peak, is covered with an ice cap. But now the legendary glaciers are melting so rapidly that scientists predict they will all be gone in 15 years.

WILD SPECIES ARE FEELING THE HEAT

Plant and animal species around the world are feeling the heat from global warming. But the most dramatic effects may not be experienced for decades, according to Stanford University researchers. "Birds are laying eggs earlier than usual, plants are flowering earlier and mammals are breaking hibernation sooner," the scientists found, according to Nature News Service. From butterflies to marine invertebrates, the earth's wild species have been shifting their ranges northward as temperatures rise, occupying areas previously too cold for survival. The Stanford study shows that nearly 1,200 species, some 81 percent of the total number analyzed, have undergone biological changes that are consistent with our understanding of how temperature change influences various traits of species and populations around the globe. Rapid climate change, coupled with loss of habitat and other ecological stressors, eventually could lead to the disappearance of species; a consequence that some experts believe might be avoided by taking "proactive" instead of "reactive" conservation measures.

The transformation of Mt. Kilimanjaro is only the most visible sign of climate changes in AWF's Kilimanjaro Heartland, which includes the semi-arid savanna of the greater Amboseli ecosystem, lying just north and west of the mountain. The Heartland encompasses Amboseli National Park, six large Maasai group ranches, Tanzania's Kilimanjaro and Arusha national parks, as well as Lake Natron and the low-lying savannas of Longido.

Since 1975, temperatures in Amboseli National Park have been increasing, according to records of AWF collaborators in the Amboseli Baboon Research Project directed by Professor Jeanne Altmann of Princeton University. The daily maximum temperature has jumped 10 degrees over the past 20 years.

More troubling, reports Chief Scientist Philip Muruthi, of AWF's Nairobi office, the greatest increases have been in the months that were already the warmest, February and March. Temperatures in the shade during these months now exceed body temperature for humans and some wildlife, such as monkeys. To make matters worse, due to increased cultivation, overgrazing and land subdivision, over this same period of time the region has lost much of the woodland, trees and shrubs that offer food, shelter and shade for wildlife, and protection for humans and domestic animals.

And Kilimanjaro is by no means alone. In recent years, bizarre weather; hailstorms, tornadoes, erratic rainfall, has plagued countries across Africa, promoting drought and famine. A recent U.N. report documented that farm yields in Lesotho, for example, are down by two-thirds since the 1970s; soil is eroding, and soil fertility is deteriorating.

Many scientists are reluctant to blame the unusual weather on global warming, but climate experts admit that the changes are consistent with predictions for a warmer planet. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that Africa will be particularly vulnerable to the water and food shortages and diseases expected to be caused by global warming --if and when it happens.

"Climate change in the Kilimanjaro Heartland underlines the urgency of AWF's research, training, and community projects in the area," says Muruthi. He adds that the Heartland supports the world's best known, most studied population of African elephants and endangered species, including cheetahs and wild dogs, and contains a system of wetlands welling up from Kilimanjaro that are critical to the region because almost all wetlands outside the park have been drained for agriculture. "If, indeed, Mt. Kilimanjaro loses its ice cap, the loss of this essential water source will have enormous impact on wildlife and human populations well beyond the Kilimanjaro region."

Muruthi notes that many questions remain unanswered: Have local habitat changes caused the climate changes? Have the climate changes contributed to the habitat changes? And how widespread are these effects?

"Sadly, few other data are available to help us answer these questions," he says, 'but collaborations between AWF and the Amboseli Baboon Research Project (among others) in monitoring the weather and woodland are a beginning."