Disappearing world - in pictures

The Congo ­Basin contains the world’s second-largest ­tropical ­rainforest. Around 90% remains, but logging and ­mining now threaten this species-rich area. The survival of the Mbuti pygmies, who live in the Ituri region of north-eastern Congo, ­observe gender equality and have no ruling group, is seriously threatened by deforestation and local conflict: in 2003, a Mbuti representative testified to the UN that his people had been hunted and eaten by soldiers fighting in the civil war. Photograph: Randy Olson/National Geographic/Abrams & Chronicle

The white slopes of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania are a totemic, if ­controversial, symbol of ­climate change. Africa’s highest peak is predicted to lose its snowcap within a few decades, gravely ­impacting the million ­people of the Chagga and Masai tribes who rely on the meltwater. But the cause is ­disputed: some scientists say ­local ­deforestation is disrupting local weather patterns; others blame climate change-induced droughts across eastern Africa. Photograph: Federico Veronesi/Abrams & Chronicle

Symbolism plays an important role in Japanese culture so the desperate plight of the red-crowned crane – an iconic bird in Japan symbolising longevity, fidelity and good fortune – carries extra poignancy. The wetland habitat of the tancho, as the bird is known locally, has been under threat for decades as the densely populated nation has extended into and developed its marshlands. It is now estimated that fewer than 3,000 birds remain in the wild. Photograph: Abrams & Chronicle/Keren Su

The San people of the Kalahari desert in southern Africa have seen their lifestyle threatened by many external forces over the centuries. But increased desertification caused by climate change, combined with the advances of land-hungry ­cattle ranches, are now forcing them into ever-harsher reaches of the desert in search of scrubland and water. The San once numbered millions, but it is now estimated that fewer than 2,000 still lead a traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Photograph: Chris Johns/National Geographic

Germany's Halligen Islands owe their existence to the North Sea’s tides. In the ­medieval era, they were larger and more plentiful, but erosion and the encroachment of sea water has greatly reduced their size over the years. Today, the few dwellings that remain are built on metre-high hills called Warften to protect them from flooding. Cattle still roam the salt ­meadows, but for how much longer? The ­islands are largely unprotected by dykes and become largely submerged when high tides strike. Photograph: Karl Johaentges/Abrams & Chronicle

The rapid retreat of the world’s glaciers is often ­described as climate change’s canary in the mine. The Franz Josef Glacier in the Southern Alps of New Zealand’s South Island is unusual in that it terminates in the middle of a temperate rainforest. It has proved far more resistant to melting than other glaciers in the Southern Alps – in fact, it has ­advanced in recent decades – but scientists predict that, if the warming trend continues, by the end of century it might have retreated by up to 5km. Photograph: Jochen Schlenker/Abrams & Chronicle

This vast ­expanse of tundra, where the soil just ­beneath the surface is always frozen, makes up almost 10% of the planet’s land mass. But ­global warming has caused some of the soil to ­defrost, ­resulting in “drunken trees”: native spruces tilting as their roots lose support. It is also causing methane – a potent greenhouse gas – to be released, and threatens to further open up the region to oil and mining companies, which will only exacerbate rising greenhouse gas emissions. Photograph: Abrams & Chronicle/Arctic-Images

With 80% of the country less than one metre above sea level, the residents of the Maldives’ 1,200 tropical islands have long been aware of their ­vulnerability to rising sea levels. In 2008, it was announced that the government would start diverting a percentage of the nation’s income from tourism into a fund to buy a new homeland. The deep irony that the island nation’s economy relies heavily on tourists ­arriving in polluting aircraft has not been lost on the islanders. Photograph: Sakis Papadopoulos/Abrams & Chronicle