{"id":17160,"date":"2016-04-26T19:30:34","date_gmt":"2016-04-26T19:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/?p=17160"},"modified":"2018-04-22T12:00:22","modified_gmt":"2018-04-22T16:00:22","slug":"mount-kenya-conquered-in-name-of-sdg-awareness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/blog\/2016\/04\/mount-kenya-conquered-in-name-of-sdg-awareness\/","title":{"rendered":"Mount Kenya conquered in name of SDG awareness"},"content":{"rendered":"

To bring attention to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change signing ceremony on 22 April, a team from the United Nations Information Centre in Nairobi set off to climb Mount\u00a0Kenya, where glaciers are rapidly diminishing. Mount Kenya, Africa’s second-highest mountain at 17,330 feet, has lost 92% of its ice cap in the last century due mainly to global warming.<\/p>\n

While on their journey, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ staffers\u00a0Newton Kanhema and Bo Sorensen captured images of the fast retreating icecaps long identified with this famous mountain.\u00a0They also took the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ and Sustainable Development Goals flags to symbolize international efforts that are underway to halt the impact of climate change on the African continent.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mount Kenya, one of the few equatorial mountains with an ice cap, is both a major tourist attraction and the origin of many rivers that are a major source of water and hydrological power for Kenya’s\u00a045 million people.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Gregory and Krapf glaciers on the mountain have\u00a0almost disappeared, and Lewis Glacier, the biggest of them all, retreated by more than 800 meters between 1893 and 2004, and lost almost 16 metres of thickness between 1979 and 1996.<\/p>\n

Sid Chatterjee, the Acting Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Resident Coordinator for Kenya, said the world is at a\u00a0crossroads to choose to do business as usual or take action that mitigates the rapid climate change likely to be a disaster for people who depend on the water from Mount Kenya.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most vulnerable people and poorest \u2013 mostly those who have done least to cause climate change \u2013 need global support to reduce their exposure to climate impacts,\u201d Chatterjee said.<\/p>\n

More photos:\u00a0Impact of Climate Change in Mount Kenya<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Via Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Information Centre Nairobi<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div>