Peru’s Politicians Lock Horns with Scientists, Deny Crisis as Water Shortage Looms
Above: Ohio State glaciologist Lonnie Thompson gives two good reasons why loss of Peru’s glaciers is “alarming”; July 7 Adapting to a World without Glaciers, Lima (photo by Jorge Vera 2009)
By Barbara R. Drake
LIMA, PERU: Peru’s Minister of the Environment Antonio Brack Egg told international glacier experts and other climate specialists last week that Peru cannot be expected to avert the country’s pending water shortage on its own and that regional and local administrations must bear responsibility.
Peruvian Minster of the Environment Antonio Brack Egg at Adapting to a World without Glaciers conference, July 7, 2009, Lima Peru (photo Jorge Vera 2009)
“When we speak about these subjects (climate change), everything cannot be pinned on the central government,” Brack said on the closing day of the “Adapting to a World without Glaciers: Realities, Challenges and Action” conference, held in Lima and Huaraz July 7-15. The conference was organized by the Washington, D.C.-based Mountain Institute and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Brack criticized the 14-page preliminary report presented by the scientists, saying its main recommendations are too ambitious in scope and too costly to implement.
“We must aim at two or three things that there are to do, because we often dream that we need larger and larger budgets,” he said, speaking to some of the 100-plus global glacier experts, environmental policy makers and others who had formulated strategies to help Peru cope with the immanent disappearance of its high-altitude glaciers.
“Unfortunately, with this world (financial) crisis and the recent loss of Peru’s exports by 12 percent, we have to put our feet on the ground,” Brack said. “We must agree and prioritize….The theme of climate change is very complex.”
Qolqepunku Glacier in the Cordillera Vilcanota range has lost 60 percent of its area in 3 years. Experts predict most of Peru’s glaciers will be gone by 2040, putting 30 million Peruvians at risk of extreme water shortages. (photo Jorge Vera 2009)
Most of Peru’s glaciers will be gone between 2030 and 2040, experts say. Loss of glacier melt-water threatens Peru’s 30 million inhabitants with catastrophic water shortages and loss of life-sustaining crops
The 12 main recommendations made by conference leaders include determining how much water Peru consumes and has left (both unknown quantities); involving all stakeholders in decision-making about water use; educating local people about climate change; conserving biodiversity; paying indigenous communities for preserving rainforest; and recovering traditional knowledge about coping with rapid climate shifts.
The group’s recommendation to inventory all of Peru’s 2,000 glaciers and to estimate their mass, not just their surface area, struck a raw nerve with the Minister of the Environment:
“It costs US$40 per hectare a day to monitor these sites via satellite,” he said, apparently misinformed. “There are limitations to what we can do.”
Audience members pointed out that this information is freely available from European entities that help monitor Peru’s glaciers.
Ignoring these comments, Brack turned to Marco Zapata, head of the glaciology unit at Peru’s Natural Resources Institute (INRENA), a government agency. “How long has there been a glaciology unit in Peru?” he challenged the Peruvian glaciologist.
“Seventy years,” said Zapata.
“And in that time you have not managed to catalog all the glaciers?” retorted Brack.
A similar combative tone was sounded on the first day of the conference, July 7, at a press conference with Zapata, Ohio State glaciologist Lonnie Thompson and Eduardo Durand, the Ministry’s head of climate change affairs.
Discussing the rapid retreat of Peru’s glaciers, which supply about 80 percent of the country’s water for drinking, agriculture and power generation, Durand insisted that the situation was “not cause for alarm.”
“Yes, we must be on the alert, but it is not an alarm situation,” said Durand. “It is time to act.”
“Not an alarm situation!” Eduardo Durand, head of climate change, Peru Ministry of the Environment (photo c. Jorge Vera 2009)
“I think we should be alarmed,” disagreed Thompson. “As a glaciologist watching how fast these glaciers are responding to climate change and having worked for 35 years on Quelccaya ice cap – the situation is very alarming.”
Thompson noted the discrepancy between Peru’s promises to protect the environment and its decision to permit the construction of the TransOceanic Highway, a 3,400-mile-long road through virgin Amazon rainforest that will link the coasts of Brazil and Peru.
“You know what will happen if it succeeds,” he said, referring to environmental impacts such as deforestation, soil erosion and loss of biodiversity.
There is a disconnect between “what I see happening here (in Peru) and the discussion,” Thompson said. “That disturbs me.”
Barbara
I am an American writer who lived in Lima for seven years (2007-2014), where I covered Andean traditions, melting glaciers and daily life in the capital for Miami Herald, MSNBC and Huffington Post. I now live and work in northern Florida where I champion climate change advocacy and compassionate, affordable eldercare.
10 Comments
Marty
The differences of opinions by government officials and scientists [especially for abroad] is the different interpretation of a time critical crisis. In my experience, Peruvians do not react to a crisis until the crisis is well underway. Then, it often too little, to late.
Barb
You’re right that Peru’s politicians are waiting until this thing is a full-blown crisis before taking action. The problem is, waiting until that moment won’t give the country enough preparation time, and this is something that will affect all people, animals and businesses in Peru, not just in one part.
We need to get the message out now that Peru must act and act on a big scale.
Holly
Thanks for noting this conference. I wonder then when Durand would think it was time to be alarmed?!
Granted, I’m a little jaded after Katrina, but I often feel like these very serious situations are brushed off by officially because they feel that it will only impact the poorest, most vulnerable groups and they secretly wish for a disaster to wipe out these ‘troublesome’ populations. After all, if poverty didn’t exist, then there would be no telling legacy of the error of their policies and programs?
Doug Pool
Barbara:
You did a great job of capturing the essence of the event and raising the bar to to inform outsiders.
Barb
Holly, I wish I knew when Durand would consider it a crisis. A few years ago I interviewed Lonnie Thompson about when US officials were going to start taking climate change seriously, and he told me that people generally only “wake up” when the problem is at their front doorstep, that humans tend to wait until the crisis is full-blown. I’d say that Durand and other Lima-based politicians are suffering from the “outta sight, outta mind” problem.
Doug — thanks. I wish that Peru could have welcomed the results of the conference more graciously, but perhaps John and the others were expecting this. I hoping that the 3-yr project that USAID is instigating in Peru will do some significant good and help increase cooperation among stakeholders.
Pingback:
Pingback:
bshep
“recovering traditional knowledge about coping with rapid climate shifts.”
I find it fascinating that this was one of the suggestions. It would be intersting to see the results (if this ever gets done).
Barb
bshep — Yes, the experts at the conference returned to this theme over and over, and some institutions are making it central to their work in Peru.
Peru’s extreme geography (high mountains, 1000 miles of arid desert, rainforest) and position along the icy Humbolt current has translated into millenia of climate changes which the people have had to cope with. Indigenous people have had to contend with droughts and drastic climate events and thus there is a memory of how to adapt to such changes. Granted, those changes were not as far reaching as today’s rapid climate change is (or is predicted to be), but the scientists and policy experts agreed that the people’s knowledge is a key tool in helping Peru adapt to loss of its glaciers.
Pingback: