The world's vanishing wonders thanks to global warming

Robin McKie

LONDON
05-Feb-07

FROM the Caribbean coral reef to the snows of Mount Kilimanjaro, many of the world's best-loved natural icons are threatened by global warming.

The snows of Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

The white top of Africa's highest mountain has become an icon, instantly recognisable, but Kilimanjaro's snows are disappearing at an alarming rate. The great peak, which once glowed 'unbelievably white in the sun' according to Hemingway, will turn an uninspiring dirty brown, a victim of global warming caused by ever-increasing amounts of carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere. As 10,000 people visit the mountain each year, how the loss of the snow will affect this tourist trade is uncertain.

The Caribbean coral reef

Global warming is not the only side effect of higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Increasing amounts of the gas gets dissolved in the sea, making it ever more acidic. In addition, climate change is triggering more frequent extreme storms, particularly in the hurricane-ravaged Caribbean. All of this is bad news for the Meso-American reef which stretches down the coast of southern Mexico past Belize and into Honduras. It is now suffering a triple environmental whammy. Warmer water disrupts coral growth; acidic water affects coral's abilities to secrete new skeletons; hurricanes break it up. Environment activists warn that the reef home to thousands of marine species faces obliteration in the near future.

Polar bears, Canada

Every October and November, the remote town of Churchill in Canada is transformed into the polar bear capital of the world. Up to 1,200 bears gather on the icy tundra waiting for the sea in the Hudson Bay to freeze, to hunt for seals. However, the future of these creatures is in jeopardy. The Arctic is feeling the impact of global warming more than any other place on Earth and the bears' hunting grounds and migration routes are melting, forcing them to swim for dozens of miles in search of solid ground. Experts predict there will be few or no polar bears left in the wild by 2030.

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