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# Melting of Kilimanjaro's glaciers, deforestation and glacial recession since the 1850s
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/stremitelnoe-taianie-lednikov-na-sverkaiushchei-gore-kilimandzharo-v-tanzanii-v-nashi-dni-sviazyvaiut-s-neshchadnoi-vyrubkoi-dozhdevykh-lesov-na-ee-sklonakh/
- Published: 2024-01-28T15:12:05.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:46:53.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Geography, Science, Nature

The rapid melting of the glaciers on the "shining mountain" of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania is nowadays linked to the ruthless felling of the rainforests on its slopes. It is believed that, with the disappearance of the forest, the slopes have ceased to store the moisture which they once released and sent up to the summit in the form of clouds, replenishing the snow anew. By some forecasts, the snowy cap above the African landscape has 10-20 years left to live.

The melting of the glacier did not begin just now: it was noticed as early as the middle of the 20th century, when the forecast for the complete disappearance of Kilimanjaro's snow and ice cover stood at 40-200 years. Nor was the melting noticed in Tanzania alone: the same fate has befallen other African glaciers, in the mountains of Kenya and in the Rwenzori. Researchers have correlated this with the trend on the glaciers of Peru, Chile and New Zealand, which together is characterised as the modern retreat of the glaciers, begun in the 1850s. The glaciers of New Zealand retreated by 2 km between 1866 and 1919 alone.

Strange as it may seem, previous generations of scholars did not name human influence as the chief cause of this worldwide glacial recession

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_11038@28-01-2024_18-12-05.jpg)

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_11039@28-01-2024_18-12-05.jpg)