Narration

Recent development in information and communication technology provides an opportunity for  public access to environmental information in a cost-effective manner. In this video, UNEP logos depict 120 environmental hotspots around the world&#151;as part of UNEP's mandate to keep the state of the environmental situation under review.

Following are four examples:

Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania – Melting Glacier:
•  Mt. Kilimanjaro's fabled snows have  been disappearing since at least the early    
   20th century	
•  These images from 1976 and 2000 shows how rapidly things can change 	
• Projections indicate that if this recession continues at the present rate, the
 	   remaining snow and ice will completely vanish in the next 15 years 
	• Little remains of the snow and ice that Hemmingway described as "wide as 
  all the world, great, high, and unbelievably white in the sun"

Extensive Deforestation in Paraguay — Iguazu
• Between1973 and 2003, dramatic changes of forest to agriculture was observed 
   in Paraguay
• Iguazu National Park—a World Heritage Site—contains remnants of the highly     
  endangered Paranaense Rain Forest bordering Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina

Almeria, Spain —From Rural to Greenhouse-based Agriculture
• This is a dramatic visualization of rural agriculture being converted to intensive 
   greenhouse-based agriculture between 1987 and 2004 in Almeria, Spain 

Restoration of the Mesopotamia Marshlands in Iraq
• On a more positive note, here is one of the world's  great wetlands that had 
   experienced significant reduction of water between 1973 to 2000, that led to the 
   collapse of the ecosystem, has shown signs of revival between 2000 and 
   2004