Andean glaciers threaten Peru

Grant · #1 12-Mar-2007, 21:46

Government officials, water experts and environmentalists agree the rapid melting of the spectacular Andean glaciers featured in the film An Inconvenient Truth,is threatening the long-term economic and human development of what is South America's most "water-stressed" country.

"Global warming for us is not just about the environment," warns Julio Garcia of Peru's National Council on the Environment, Conam.
"It's more about how on earth we can develop Peru in a sustainable way over the coming years."

Peru's water problem lies in part in the peculiar geography of the country. Most of the Pacific coast would be desert if it were not for the water flowing down from the Andes.

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Peru's alarming water truth

RWood · #2 13-Mar-2007, 08:10

The towns in the coastal deserts of northern Chile also take a lot of Andean water, most notably Arica {I have been there}, whose mean rainfall in about a century of records is only about 0.8mm. Calama - inland from Antofagasta - has a vineyard!

Grant · #3 13-Mar-2007, 09:30

Wow, that is one stunning statistic. You think of deserts in Africa with figures like that. Amazing how Peru and Chile just don't cross your miond when you think of extreme weather.

Thanks received from:
Grant (13-Mar-2007)