The theory is highlighted in a recent study report compiled by two researchers from Britain's Portsmouth University, Nicholas Pepin and Martin Schaefer, who surveyed the mountain's glaciers for 11 days.
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The researchers, who revealed their findings at a news conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday, said the mountain's glacier surface had shrunk from 20 km in 1880 to a mere two kilometres in 2000.
They said the development was caused more by local than regional factors, with Pepin suggesting that deforestation mainly due to extensive farming as the major cause.
''Deforestation of the mountain's foothills is the most likely culprit because without forests there is too much evaporation of humidity into outer space.