Climate Change Briefing for Peruvians

It’s not every day that you can spend an evening with several brilliant climatologists and have them give you a simplified mini-course on climate change – a sort of “Global Warming and Glacier Recession 101,” if you will — but that’s what I experienced this past Tuesday (6/17) at Lima’s Catholic University (UCP). What a privilege.

El Fotógrafo, I and about 300 other people gathered in the university’s law auditorium to attend a free forum on “Deglacination en el Perú y Cambio Climático.” EF and I care about deglacination because that process is happening to the mountains at the Qoyllur Rit’i shrine, whose rituals we’ve been documenting since 2006.

Top American scientists and a leading climate expert from Peru gave Pointpoint presentations (with text in Spanish) demonstrating the core concepts of global warming, glacial recession and how life in Peru (both the Andes and the coast) is being affected by rising temperatures. I was familiar with the information presented by U.S. scientists Lonnie Thompson and Raymond Bradley, but it was a luxury to have it explained in simple, layperson’s terms by two of the very scientists who have helped piece together the climate-change puzzle over the last two decades. (Several thousand scientists working independently, and then collaboratively, made those connections, actually.)

It was like have the architects of the Notre Dame explain to you the mechanics of the Gothic arch. Or like hearing Einstein give a primer on the theory of relativity.  

I’m not sure if people in the audience fully understood what a big deal it was to have Thompson and Bradley at the forum. That’s not to say that Peruvians are ignorant of climate change; rather, it’s a matter of people in South America not being familiar with the names of U.S. scientists. (Conversely, how many Americans know who the leading scientists in Latin America are?)

Regardless, Bradley and Thompson’s presentations seemed to make an impression on the audience. Water is a huge concern in Peru, and to have all those graphs on a screen spelling out, “The glaciers are melting, folks, and soon you won’t have enough H2O to water your potatoes” – well, it was sobering for the Limenos.

Obviously, the dilemma now facing Peru is: Where will the country get its water in 10 to 20 years?

Peruvian engineer and climate expert César Portocarrero tackled that question. The audience visibly rippled with attention as he laid out the problems that Peru’s countryside is facing. Higher temperatures are changing climate patterns all throughout Peru, altering farming practices and creating water conflicts among communities. As temps rise, more rain will fall east of the Andes (in the Amazon) and less will fall west of that lengthy mountain range. Things are going to get drier in northern Peru and along the coast. (Remember that most of the coast already is a desert.)

Portocarrero stressed the theme of mitigation: Peru must conserve more water and create a better infrastructure to deliver H2O better. He advocates a hands-on approach, which is just what the country needs.