Some of the world’s greatest wonders are the historical sites that have existed for hundreds and sometimes thousands of years. Many of them were lost to human knowledge for centuries before they were uncovered. Thanks to urbanization, natural disasters, and pollution, however, it is likely that these historical landmarks will be lost once more before the end of this century.

10Glacier National Park

Around 10,000 years ago, the ice in the area of Montana’s Glacier National Park was about 1.6 kilometers (1 mi) deep. When the park was founded in 1910, there were around 150 glaciers. Only 25 of these giants remain, and it is suspected that all of them might be gone by 2030.

The heart of the National Park, Grinnell Glacier, has lost more than 90 percent of its ice over the past century. It’s no surprise that global warming is the cause, but the park seems to be getting hit even worse than other places: The temperature in the area has increased 1.8 times more than other areas around the globe.

It’s not just the glaciers that are in danger of disappearing. The icy streams that have always flowed from the great sheets of ice keep the ecosystem of the park going, with its wolves, herds of elk, and one of the largest populations of grizzly bears in lower America. If the glaciers go, not only will the last remnant of the Ice Age disappear, several species will find their home in shambles.

9The Valley Of Kings

The resting places of the mighty pharaohs of Egypt, such as Ramses II and the boy king Tutankhamun, have inspired wonder and awe through centuries. Unfortunately, they have also inspired many treasure hunters who were little more than thieves and plunderers.

But now, the Valley of Kings faces a different kind of threat. This one comes not from greedy Indiana Jones wannabes but several thousand well-meaning tourists. Fungus has begun to grow out of control around the tombs, and scientists believe that the parasite has flourished due to poor ventilation and the respiration of thousands of visitors. The head of Egypt’s antiques has reported that the tombs may vanish within 150 years.

The engravings and paintings inside the tombs are already beginning to disappear. In response, the number of tourists allowed inside the tombs has been restricted, and some exhibits have been closed completely. Hopefully, these restrictions, along with the use of new ventilation systems in the tombs, will be enough to save them.

8Seychelles

It’s probably a fair bet that most people haven’t heard of the Seychelles, a group of around 115 islands not far from the more well-known Madagascar. They were somehow completely uninhabited by humans until the British East India Company discovered them in the 1600s. After that, they became a haven for pirates. Today, they are known as one of the greatest places to see the biggest fish in the sea: whale sharks. The Seychelles hold some of the earliest scientific records about the magnificent creatures, which are strictly protected.

However, the islands could be underwater in as little as half a century, largely due to the destruction of the coral barriers around the beaches. The Seychelles have fallen victim to one of the most brutal incidences of coral bleaching worldwide. The rising temperatures destroy the coral and leave it a disturbing, almost skeleton-like white, destroying entire ecosystems and leaving everyone who lives on the islands vulnerable to devastating events like hurricanes.

7Olympia

When we think of ancient Greece, most of us think of the Greek gods, Sparta, or the Olympics. While everyone knows that the Olympics were created in Greece, not many people know about the exact city where they were founded.

Olympia has been occupied by several different cults over the years who worshiped several different gods, from Kronos, the King of Titans, to the goddess of lust and beauty, Aphrodite. Over time, one cult claimed the city completely for their god, the ruler of the Olympians, Zeus himself. Nearly everything in the city was designed to honor him, from the magnificent 13-meter (42 ft) statue covered in gold and ivory (which, sadly, no longer exists) to the Olympic games themselves. Today, the Olympic flame is still ignited in this city and then transported to wherever the games are being held.

Ironically, it is fire that threatens the origin site of the beloved games. In 2007, several fires that were started by arsonists spread rapidly across the country, killing more than 60 people. The flames were barely contained by a dedicated team of firefighters just a hillside away from wiping out the historic site of the original games. Thanks to global warming, fires have become much more commonplace and much more powerful, threatening to burn the site to a crisp and render all efforts to protect it in vain.

6The Chan Chan Archaeological Zone

Chan Chan, which enjoys the titles of the largest pre-Columbian city to be discovered and the largest ever adobe city, covers around 20 kilometers (12 mi) of Peruvian land. It was originally inhabited by the Chimu people, who divided the city into nine different citadels, each of which were autonomous.

Chan Chan has also been labeled by anthropologists as the “first true engineering society in the New World.” Their projects, such as an irrigation system that supplied the entire city and their attempt to create a massive canal that would have stretched to the Chicama River 80 kilometers (50 mi) north, were unheard of in “civilized” Europe. The city lasted for more than 600 years before the Incan Empire finally managed to overthrow it.

Today, this archaeological wonder is under attack not only from those who come to pillage and loot but also from storms caused by the deadly El Nino phenomena. To make matters worse, powerful earthquakes put the city in danger of being crushed completely.

5The Galapagos Islands

Everyone who’s taken a high school biology class knows about Charles Darwin and how he was inspired to devise his theory of evolution while studying the wildlife of these secluded islands. Nearly 9,000 species, many of which can be found nowhere else in the entire world, call these islands home. However, the wildlife that makes the Galapagos so unique is being seriously threatened.

As the number of immigrant workers and tourists has increased, the latter by more than 12 percent every year, so does the number of invasive species. Goats and pigs eat the food that the native species need to survive, and predators such as rats make off with the young and the weak. For thousands of years, there were no predators at all on the islands, and evolution works too slowly for many of these unique animals to hope to catch up in time.

4The Chersonesos Archaeological Site

Though it is located in modern-day Ukraine, southwest of the Crimean Peninsula, Chersoneos is actually an ancient Greek site, founded between 300 and 200 B.C. However, much like Ukraine currently, it was not a peaceful site. Though it was one of the few relatively democratic societies at the time, historical records have shown that this city-state was constantly at war against the Scythian people and the Roman Empire. It eventually lost its independence to the latter.

In the fifth century, most of the Greek buildings and temples were destroyed as Christianity became the dominant religion. However, even becoming part of the Byzantine Empire was not enough to save the society, as nomadic tribes raided and burned it around eight centuries later.

The Soviet Union discovered the site when they annexed Crimea in the 1800s. It was rigidly protected and reconstructed, becoming one of the most important sites for Russian historians and archaeologists to study. Today, it is under attack by both natural and man-made forces, as coastal erosion, pollution, and urban encroachment threaten its destruction.

3Intramuros

The name of this district of Manilla, which is the second largest city in the Philippines, means “within the walls.” It’s a very appropriate moniker, considering that it has been guarded by the same walls since they were built in the 16th century despite the horrific damage and destruction they have endured. It was the original capital of the city, when the Spanish Empire still owned the territory.

During World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army invaded the Philippines. Manilla was hit especially hard, and several historical buildings within Intramuros—such as the Santo Domingo Church and the original University of Santo Tomas—were ravaged. However, the real destruction occurred when America fought to take back the city from Japan. After this attack, only 5 percent of the original structures were left standing, and 40 percent of the walls had turned to rubble.

In 1951, Intramuros was declared a historic monument. Slow progress has been made toward its restoration, including the return of its five original gates to their former glory. However, these ancient walls cannot keep out the modern world. Several franchises of Starbucks and McDonald’s have been erected around the ancient city, and the moats surrounding it have been converted into golf courses. Historians tremble at what will come next.

2Hisham’s Palace

Hisham’s Palace was buried underneath the sand in A.D. 747 and remained there until Palestinian archeologist D.C. Baramki began excavating it in 1934. Sadly, historians fear that the site might not be around in as few as 100 years.

Intriguingly, no one is quite sure what Hisham’s Palace is supposed to be. When it vanished from sight, it also seemed to vanish from any historical text. The only hint archaeologists have found is a chunk of pottery bearing the name “Hisham.” Baramki’s colleague, Robert W. Hamilton, has argued that this is proof that the palace belonged to the heir of the caliph, Al-Walid II. All we really know for sure is that it was definitely built in the early eighth century and destroyed by a massive earthquake.

Tragically, we might never know the palace’s secrets. It’s threatened by the massive expansion from the neighboring, modern Jericho as well as extremely vulnerable to the natural elements after being buried under the sand for so long. The sand appears to be seeking to claim it yet again.

1Lamu, Kenya

This city has been a World Heritage Site since 2001, but it has been around since the 14th century. Lamu was one of the original Swahili settlements, founded on the east coast of Africa, and it’s still inhabited to this day. During its golden age, Lamu was one of the biggest cities around, a scholastic center of arts, politics, and literature. The city later became an important strategic location for both Germany and Britian, and it only gained its independence along with Kenya in the 1960s.

Although Lamu has been a bustling town filled with people for many centuries, people nowadays are doing their best to avoid or leave it. In 2011, travel to Lamu was banned due to several kidnappings carried out by the terrorist group Al Shaabab, who claims vengeance for stolen Muslim lands as its motive for the kidnappings as well as several brutal assaults on the city just this year that have left many dead. The terrorist attacks make it all but impossible to preserve historical sites such as Lamu Fort.

+The Taj Mahal

Created as a tomb by Emperor Shah Jahan for his wife, the Taj Mahal took more than 20,000 laborers, 1,000 elephants, and 20 years to complete. It is considered one of the most breathtaking marvels of the ancient world, but in under five years, it could be completely closed to the public.

A little over 10 years ago, one study determined that air and water pollution were starting to turn the beautiful white building a sickly yellow color, and the India Supreme Court ordered that a small fortune be spent restoring the site. The program to halt the damage attracted global attention, but as of 2014, the problem isn’t getting any better.

Though some workers at the monument have denied it, studies have shown that the levels of pollutants such as nitrogen oxide have increased dramatically. Vehicles are not permitted to come within 500 meters (1,640 ft) of the palace. As the city of Agra and the massive amount of traffic that comes with it continues to grow, the Taj Mahal may still be doomed.

Ashley Lewis is a hardworking college student, sweating blood in her quest to finish her first novel. She wrote all throughout her high school career on the school newspaper, making up lists about the wacky and weird.

Tribal people throughout the world are defending themselves against the incursion of a modern society that scorns their rights and their unique ways of living. Here are 10 fascinating indigenous cultures that are on the verge of extinction.

10The Korowai

The primitive Korowai have a long tradition of cannibalism, but it’s their tree houses in southeastern Papua, Indonesia that make them fascinating. A family of up to eight people will live in a wooden house with a sago-leaf ceiling that’s built 6–12 meters (20–40 ft) above the ground on a single tree. Sometimes, a house rests on several trees with wooden poles adding support.

The Korowai live in the trees to avoid imagined attacks after dark by walking corpses and male witches on the ground. Each house physically lasts about a year. But they’re so critical to each person’s identity that time is defined by the houses that a person has lived in. For example, a unit of time may be described by the number of houses that fell apart during it. An event such as a birth, death, marriage, or killing happened at the time of a specific house. An era consists of a series of events that occurred when a series of houses were inhabited.

The Korowai usually die before middle age because they lack any kind of medicine. There are about 3,000 tribe members left. Wearing only banana leaves, these hunter-gatherers eat bananas, sago, deer, and wild boar.

Until the 1970s, when anthropologists came to study them, most Korowai didn’t know that outsiders existed. But in recent decades, the younger Korowai have drifted away to settlements built by Dutch missionaries. Soon, only old tribe members will remain in the trees. Their culture is expected to disappear within the next generation.

9The Samburu

For hundreds of years, the Samburu roamed semi-arid northern Kenya in search of water and grass for the livestock that are their sole source of food. The Samburu are now threatened by intense droughts, and they face an ever greater threat from the Kenyan authorities. The police rape the Samburu, beat them, and burn their houses down.

The recent harassment began after two American wildlife charities bought Samburu land and gave it to Kenya to create a national park. The charities believed that they were purchasing land from a private owner, possibly former Kenyan president Daniel arap Moi. Thousands of Samburu families were forced to relocate or live like squatters on the edge of their disputed land. The Samburu are now challenging their violent eviction in court.

But life for young Samburu girls is brutal within their tribe, too. A systematic rape ritual called “beading” is supposed to prevent promiscuity in girls, some as young as six years old. A close male acquaintance, often a relative, who wants an early promise of marriage will contact the child’s parents and put a necklace of red beads on the girl. “Effectively, he has booked her,” says Josephine Kulea, a Samburu woman. “It’s like a [temporary] engagement, and he can then have sex with her. ”

The girls are forbidden from getting pregnant, but no contraceptives are used, so many become pregnant despite the taboo. The infants who don’t die naturally are killed or given away. If a girl keeps her baby, she won’t be permitted to marry when she’s an adult.

Kulea has tried to rescue some of these girls by placing them in a shelter and moving their babies to orphanages.

8The Loba

Hidden in the harsh terrain of the Nepalese Himalayas is the former Tibetan kingdom of Mustang, also known as Lo. To enter its capital, Lo Manthang, is to step back in time to a 14th-century walled city steeped in a purely Tibetan Buddhist culture.

Mustang was closed to most foreigners until 1992 and was only accessible by foot or on horseback until recently. We’re now learning about its history from ancient texts, painted murals, and other religious artifacts discovered in Mustang caves built into steep cliffs.

The people of Mustang, called the Loba, live off the land with almost no modern technology and few educational opportunities for their children. But the Loba do have a history of cultural resistance against Chinese rule. When the Dalai Lama sought refuge in India in the 1960s, CIA-backed resistance fighters (called the Khampas) made Mustang their base. Eventually, the CIA stopped its support, and Nepal was pressured by China into taking military action against the Khampas. The Dalai Lama called on the Khampas to surrender. The few who didn’t committed suicide, and the resistance was formally over. China has closely watched this region ever since.

Now, China is funding a new highway between the cities of Lhasa in Tibet and Kathmandu in Nepal that will make Mustang part of a major trade route. While some of Mustang’s people welcome modernization, their leaders are concerned that their Tibetan Buddhist culture will be lost forever, especially as more residents leave the area for better jobs and education elsewhere.

7The San

We’ve previously looked at the San’s religious beliefs, their language and even their giraffe dance. Now, we’re going to examine the possible extinction of Africa’s first people.

The government of Botswana evicted these hunter-gatherers from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) in the name of conservation while permitting diamond mining, fracking, and tourism. The San (or Bushmen) were forcibly resettled into camps with goats or cattle to become herders, a lifestyle they don’t understand. Unemployment is rampant.

As Goiotseone Lobelo described it, “The police came, destroyed our homes and dumped us in the back of trucks with our belongings and brought us here. We are getting AIDS and other diseases we didn’t know about; young people are drinking alcohol; young girls are having babies. Everything is wrong here.”

The San fought the government in court and won the right to return to CKGR. But government officials only granted this to the few whose names were in the court documents. The government has also banned all hunting except on ranches or game farms, which effectively destroys the San way of life.

According to Jamunda Kakelebone, another displaced San, “Our death rate is increasing. They want to develop us. To eradicate us. Our people die of HIV and TB. When we were on our own, our death rate was low. Old people died of age. Now, we go to funerals. It’s terrifying. In 20 years, it’s going to be bye-bye, Bushmen.”

6The Awa

Before their territory was invaded, the nomadic Awa tribe had lived in harmony with the Amazon rain forest in Brazil for centuries. They were hunter-gatherers who made pets of orphaned animals. They shared mangoes with parakeets and their hammocks with coatis, which are similar to raccoons. The women sometimes breastfed monkeys and even small pigs.

Then, in 1967, American geologists on a survey mission accidentally landed their plane on the world’s largest iron ore deposit, which was in the Carajas Mountains. That led to the Great Carajas Project, a huge mining operation backed by the World Bank and industrialized nations such as the US and Japan. The Awa’s territory was invaded by loggers, ranchers, and settlers, who destroyed large swaths of the rain forest for the minerals and other resources there.

The invaders also killed many of the Awa, sometimes by shooting them and other times by giving them gifts of poisoned flour. There are only about 350 Awa left, 100 of whom have no contact with outsiders.

Finally, under pressure from rights groups such as Survival International, the Brazilian government launched Operation Awa to evict the invaders and return the dwindling Awa to their land. The question is whether Brazil will make sure the loggers and ranchers don’t return.

5The Cocopah

The Cocopah (which means “River People”) are fighting to preserve their dying culture against governments that manipulate the tribe’s access to water. These natives farmed and fished for over 500 years in the delta of the lower Colorado River, which lies in Arizona in the US and the states of Baja California and Sonora in Mexico. At one time, this people numbered around 22,000, but now they’ve dwindled to about 1,300. Only 10 native speakers remain. Traditionally, there was no written language.

Starting in 1922, the US and Mexico diverted most of the Colorado River away from the delta where the Cocopah lived. Two million acres of wetlands dried up, crippling the tribe’s ability to farm and fish. Then, during the 1980s, the US managed El Nino flooding by opening dam reservoirs, sending floodwaters surging through the delta and destroying the Cocopah’s homes. The tribe was forced to move to El Mayor, which had no water rights or arable land.

A couple of years ago, the US and Mexico agreed to let about 1 percent of the Colorado River flow to the delta in an effort to restore the wetlands. But even if that works, the Cocopah face another problem.

In 1993, the Mexican government created the Alto Golfo de California y Delta del Rio Colorado Biosphere Reserve, a conservation project that soon restricted the Cocopah’s fishing so much that they couldn’t make a living. Many members of the tribe left to find jobs elsewhere. As 44-year-old Monica Gonzalez says, “Sometimes I think our leaders talk about the Cocopah as if we had already died, but we are alive and still putting up a struggle.”

4The Mursi

A tribe of less than 10,000 people from southwestern Ethiopia, the Mursi are known for the lip-plates worn by their women. Lip-plates are a symbol of social adulthood and potential fertility. At 15 or 16 years old, a girl has her lower lip pierced, inserting a wooden plug to hold the cut open until it heals. Over the next several months, the girl will stretch her lip with a series of increasingly larger plugs. The most persistent girls will eventually wear lip-plates of at least 12 centimeters (5 in) in diameter.

Although the Mursi are considered nomads by the Ethiopian government, they’re actually quite settled. Depending on the rainfall, they may move to find a place with water to grow crops like sorghum, beans, and maize. They also need grasslands to feed their cattle—which are not only a food source, but also a currency to trade for grain and to validate social relationships like marriage.

In recent decades, the Ethiopian government has begun large-scale development of the Mursi’s land into national parks and commercial irrigation schemes. Thousands of the tribe have been evicted. Aid agencies agree that abuses such as beatings and rapes have occurred, but not in a “systematic” way. It’s possible that some international aid to Ethiopia, though intended for local road construction and other services, is being used by the government to forcibly resettle the Mursi. This will likely destroy their traditional culture.

3The Tsaatan

The Tsaatan’s affection for and dependence on their reindeer makes them unique. The reindeer give them milk and cheese as well as transportation across the frigid mountains and taiga (a swampy forest) of their homeland in northern Mongolia.

There are only about 500 Tsaatan left. Disease and problems from inbreeding have caused their reindeer to dwindle, too. So the Tsaatan no longer wear reindeer hides or use animal skins to cover their tepees. They’re nomads, moving every five weeks to find lichen for their beloved animals.

The tribe has an uneasy relationship with tourists. Too many visitors come without an interpreter, litter the environment, and take photos as if the Tsaatan are in a zoo. It’s also important to them that tourists ride horses that won’t hurt the reindeer.

But the Tsaatan’s biggest problem is that their 3,000-year-old culture may not survive past this generation. Without the government assistance that they once relied on, the Tsaatan are struggling. The children turn to computers and other technology to prepare them to live in the modern world. Younger people are leaving the taiga for the cities, and the older Tsaatan are afraid they’ll be left alone.

2The Ladakhis

Imagine the most idyllic culture you can. Patience, tolerance, and honesty are held above all other values. People always help one another, and there’s no money but also no poverty. Lying, stealing, aggression, and arguments are almost unknown. Major crimes simply don’t exist. Everybody is irrepressibly happy. You’re imagining the actual Ladakh culture that existed for centuries before the modern world intruded to destroy it like the serpent in the Garden of Eden.

Of course, life wasn’t really perfect. Set high in the Himalayas in the northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh is a barren desert in the summer and a frozen moonscape in the winter. With few resources and no modern technology, the Ladakhis established farms, supplemented by herding. Ladakh was almost completely isolated until a road was built in 1962 to connect this area with the rest of India. But modernization didn’t have a major impact on this society until 1975, when tourism slithered in.

Then, like Adam and Eve after eating the fruit, the Ladakhis saw their nakedness (or, in this case, their primitive lifestyle) and became ashamed. They compared themselves to the free-spending tourists and the glamorous people they saw in films and on TV. For the first time, they felt poor and inferior. Their self-sustaining culture and their family structure began to break down as they chased happiness through material wealth.

As they modernize, they’re becoming selfish, competitive, frustrated, and argumentative. They’re becoming intolerant of other religions, dependent on the government, insecure, and alone in a crowded world. They’re becoming us.

1The Huaorani

The Huaorani have a long history of using deadly spears and blowguns against everyone else in their Amazon rain forest home in Ecuador. For them, revenge is a lifestyle.

Energy companies want to drill in the Amazon rain forest to extract the huge reserves of crude oil that lie beneath the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) area of Yasuni National Park. Despite environmental concerns, it’s coming down to a battle between the Ecuadorian government and the Huaorani. Both sides have alternated between high-minded words and possible ransom demands whenever it suits their purposes.

In 2007, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa proposed that governments around the world give Ecuador $3.6 billion in exchange for Ecuador not drilling the ITT. In 2013, when it became clear that world leaders weren’t paying up, Correa went to Plan B, drilling for oil. He also abandoned his commitment to protect Amazon tribes from drillers by denying that the tribes exist. Correa claims to need the Amazon oil revenue to help the poor.

As for the Huaorani, some claim that they’ll fight to the death with blowguns, machetes, and spears if oil companies drill on their land and threaten their way of life. But the Huaorani are no military match for the government.

Weya Cahuiya, who represents a Huaorani tribal organization, says, “Every time the oil companies expand, they divide us. There are fights between families because some people get things and others don’t. The government needs to pay us. All of us. They need to respect us and if they want to come in, they have to pay us or we’ll kill them.”

The world is full of beautiful places and cultures one must explore if they can. Sadly, you’d have to hurry, as quite a few of them are currently at a real risk of disappearing due to a variety of factors, primarily climate change. Apart from being amazing tourist spots, many of these are also iconic tourist destinations we’ve grown up reading about, including the Great Wall of China, Madagascar, and Venice.  

10. The Great Wall Of China

The Great Wall of China is said to be the only thing visible from space, even if that isn’t entirely true. Regardless, it’s an impressive structure running for about 5,500 miles. Instead of a single, continuous wall, it’s actually made up of multiple walls – some of them parallel to each other – originally meant to keep the nomadic invaders from the north out. While the original wall was built some time in the 3rd century BC, subsequent rulers continued to add to it. The Great Wall of China’s most well-preserved part could be traced back to the Ming era (1368-1644).

As of now, the wall is in a bad shape, thanks to wear and tear caused by continuous exposure to wind and rain, along with plants growing in the walls that have accelerated the damage. Over the years, about 30% of the wall has been lost. With the climate getting more extreme and unpredictable over time, the Great Wall of China may not survive for much longer, bringing an end to one of the oldest historical sites in the world. 

9. The Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef in Australlia is easily one of the wonders of the natural world, as anyone who has actually seen it would tell you. Spread across an area of over 133,000 square miles off the coast of Queensland, it’s the largest system of coral reefs in the world. Apart from being a diving attraction, coral reefs are immensely important for the marine ecosystem, providing a home to about one-fourth of all marine species. 

That’s why if we were to lose all the coral in the world overnight, it’d be catastrophic on multiple fronts. Sadly, that may already be happening.. Over the years, the Great Barrier Reef has lost a huge chunk of its coral population to rising temperatures, something that has only got worse with time. A severe marine heat wave further exacerbated the damage, destroying nearly 50% of its diverse – and rather colorful – coral population. 

According to a 2019 report by the United Nations, we may lose about 70% – 90% of all coral reefs on Earth if the temperature rises by just 0.9 degrees Celcius (33.62 degrees Fahrenheit). Experts believe that at that rate, the Great Barrier Reef may completely disappear by 2050.

8. Venice, Italy

Venice, Italy is also known as the Floating City or the City of Bridges, thanks to its unique and vast network of interconnected canals. Except one main road, a few side streets, and small bridges, alleys and walking paths, waterways remain the only way to explore Venice, making it one of the most unique travel experiences one can have. 

As of now, though, Venice is going through multiple problems that threaten its long-term survival. The biggest one is global warming, as rising sea levels have already started to submerge parts of it. Floods are also getting more frequent and severe; a 2019 flood managed to put about 70% of the city underwater.

A recent study found that in addition to the drowning, entire parts of the city are sinking at an alarming rate, too. If that wasn’t enough, they also found that many buildings in the city are gradually tilting towards the East.

7. The Amazon Rainforest

Recently, a study reported that the Amazon – easily the largest rainforest in the world – is now releasing more carbon dioxide than it absorbs. It may sound surprising, though looking at the number of forest fires in the region in the past few years, as well as other climate trends throughout the world, scientists knew that it would happen sooner or later. They just didn’t know it would happen so soon. 

As of now, fires are still ongoing across the Amazon region, and the current fire season is expected to be even more destructive than the last. While there are many causes for the fires – including reduced precipitation levels in recent years – many activists and local news reports have blamed the beef and farming industries operating in the region for forcibly clearing the forest. 

6. Patagonia

The Patagonia region lies on the southern side of South America, including territory governed by Argentina and Chile. While it may not feature on most mainstream travel lists floating around on the Internet, for the offbeat traveller, the vast region offers a variety of pristine natural landscapes to explore, including the Andes, fjords, lakes, deserts and steppes.  

Unfortunately, Patagonia also happens to be one of the frontiers of the fight against climate change, especially in its high-altitude parts in the Andes. Its ice fields – once one of the largest ice caps on the continent – are melting at an alarming rate, and we’re not entirely sure why. Patagonia’s ice cover is generally receding at a faster rate than most places, and at this rate, it may be completely gone within a few decades. 

5. Bordeaux, France

You don’t have to be a wine connoisseur to know that the Bordeaux region in France is synonymous with fine wine. For centuries, wineries in Bordeaux have been some of the largest producers of wine in the world, as demand for the beverage has remained consistently high throughout its history. It’s also a major source of tourism for the region, as it attracts wine enthusiasts from around the world. 

With changing times, though, all of that may change very soon. As weather patterns start affecting production in major wine-producing regions of the world, Bordeaux is one of the worst affected. Extreme weather conditions like early frost aren’t helping, either. By some estimates, Bordeaux  – along with places like Napa Valley in California – will stop being a major wine producer in the next fifty years.

4. Madagascar

Madagascar is an island located off the south-eastern coast of Africa, and is considered to be one of the most biodiverse regions in the world. Over 11,000 species are endemic to the island – which means they’re only found in Madagascar – and research teams still find entirely new species almost every time they visit. For outdoor and nature enthusiasts, it’s one of the best destinations one could ask for.

In the past few years, however, deforestation and overharvesting has caused a big chunk of the rainforest to disappear, along with its diverse wildlife – for one example, a study found that the lemur population of the island is declining alarmingly fast. 

Extensive research on the region remains limited, though from what we know, Madagascar’s rainforest may be at a real risk of disappearing in the next few decades if global warming and deforestation continue at the same rate.

3. Glacier National Park

We’ve long known that the permanent ice caps around the world would be the one of the first places affected by climate change, and we can already see it in action. From the Andes to the Arctic to the Himalayas, glaciers are melting at an unprecedented rate, and we don’t even understand its full effects, yet.

In the United States, Glacier National Park in Montana is perhaps the worst affected. One of USA’s original national parks, it’s still one of the best places you can go to for skiing anywhere in the world, not just the US. 

According to a count done back when the park was founded in 1910, it had around 100 massive glaciers. Now, barely a couple of them could even be called glaciers. Between 1966 and 2015, some of the largest glaciers in the park may have lost up to 80% of their area. With temperatures only going upward around the world, that’s expected to accelerate in the coming years.

2. The Maldives

Ever since the first climate reports came out, we’ve known that Maldives would be the first country to be affected by rising sea levels. It’s the lowest-lying country in the world, with over 80% of its islands sitting less than 1 meter above sea level. 

As the seas are now rising at a rate of close to four millimeters per year, Maldives is already at a risk of completely disappearing within the next few decades. As per one study done by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changes, they’re expected to rise by half a meter by 2100 even if we sharply reduce carbon emissions. If we don’t, they can rise by up to one meter, effectively drowning the entire country.

1. Sundarbans

Sundarbans is a vast area of mangrove forests situated in India and Bangladesh. A few protected areas inside the region are even classified as UNESCO heritage sites, owing to the sheer diversity of the flora and fauna found there. 

In the past few years, though, the mangroves of Sundarbans have seen unprecedented deforestation and damage to the local ecosystem. That’s a problem, as the mangroves keep the violent waters of the Bay of Bengal at… well, bay. Now, rising tides affect larger parts of the region for longer parts of the year, severely affecting the many unique plants and animals that call it home, including the Bengal Tiger. At this rate, the forests – one of the richest biodiversity hotspots in the world – may disappear within a few decades.

Climate change, human activity, and other environmental factors are causing some of the world’s most beautiful natural tourist destinations to disappear at an alarming rate. From coral reefs to glaciers to pristine islands, many of these places are also unique natural habitats, often sustaining endemic forms of life not found anywhere else on Earth.

10. Snow-Capped Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

At about 5,895 meters – or 19,340 feet – Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania is the highest mountain in Africa. A lot has been said and written about its permanent ice cap, as it’s also one of the only three glaciers found on the continent. The snow, combined with the postcard African backdrop, give the place an otherworldly vibe, though that may be about to change very soon. 

Much like glaciers everywhere else, climate change is rapidly contributing towards its decline. Deforestation in the nearby jungle is another big problem, as it’s rapidly reducing the amount of moisture in the air and causing the ice cap to shrink at an even faster rate. By one estimate, the mountain lost anywhere between six and 17 feet of ice between the years 2000 and 2009, and the same report estimated that it could completely disappear by 2022. While that hasn’t happened yet, the snow on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro is still melting at an alarming rate of about 1.6 feet every year, and may even completely disappear by 2040. 

9. Bangladesh

Bangladesh falls on the delta formed by the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers in Asia, two of which are among the longest rivers on the continent. Due to its geography, the country is home to many river and delta cultures, as well as one of the most fertile soils in the region. Sadly, it’s also on the frontline of climate change and rising sea levels, and might just be one of the first countries to be significantly underwater before long. 

The government of Bangladesh estimates that nearly 17% of the country will be submerged by the year 2050 if sea levels continue to rise at the current rate. The capital city, Dhaka, would probably go under by 2100, putting tens of millions of people at risk.

While the government is taking steps to adapt to the changing situation – like building coastal embankments and relocating people to higher grounds wherever they can – it’s still a huge challenge due to the country’s high and dense population.

8. Dead Sea, Israel

The Dead Sea is actually a salt lake located at the lowest point on Earth, somewhere between Israel and Jordan. It’s known for its high salt content, which makes it impossible for fish and other forms of marine life to survive. The water of the lake is also believed to have therapeutic properties, making it a popular tourist destination for medical purposes. 

If you haven’t seen it, now would be the right time to plan a trip, as the Dead Sea is also shrinking at an alarming rate. The primary cause is a massive loss of waterflow from one of its major sources, the Jordan River, due to some natural and geo-political causes. Additionally, the extraction of minerals from the lake and its shores is further harming the entire ecosystem, which might disappear entirely if it’s not protected in the near future.

7. Cook Islands