Making progress towards climate change adaptation on Peruvian Andes

Rio de Janeiro. - The diverse climate types in Peru makes necessary that different actions are designed that respond to the climate change effects in the Andes.

That statement was made by Gabriel Quijandría, Vice-minister of Strategic Development of Natural Resources from the Ministry of Environment of Peru (MINAM), in the “Experiences in Climate Change Adaptation Management in the Andes of Peru” conference given on June 18, within the Rio+20 Summit activities.

“There is not just one climate in the country, which means that the impact of climate change effects is not unique. There will be distortions which will provoke different effects on each region, and will require different responses”, said the vice-minister.

Due to the effects of climate change, the Peruvian Andes lost about 25% of its glaciers on the last 35 years. The melting of the glaciers has had an impact on its high biodiversity and caused the loss of a quarter of its total surface area since the 1970s,

According to projections, a complete altered perspective is possible, when the average temperatures rise up to 1.6 Celsius on average, and 6% of the Pacific Basin water supply disappears by 2030. This will have consequences such as temperature increase, intense downpours on the north and the northern highlands, and less rainfall on the central highlands.

To face this challenge, MINAM and the Ministry of Economy and Finances (MEF) are working together in order to introduce a new focus in climate change adaptation, and give a place in the national budget to resources that recognize the additional investment needs to address these new scenarios.

During the meeting, it was also announced that the Peruvian government was working through MINAM to build a National Climate Change Management Program proposal. On top of that, eight regional governments already have a strategy to face this problem, such as Apurimac, Loreto, Piura, Amazonas and Lambayeque.

In the local levels, applied experiences on different communities to face climate challenge were described, such as reduction of vulnerabilities, land management actions and integrated basin management.

Some initiatives, like the “Project on Adaptation to the Impact of Rapid Glacial Retreat in the Tropical Andes” (PRAA) contribute to this task by working to strengthen capabilities in order to enhance the activities that don’t necessarily depend on using available natural resources, or by adding value to their products, such as textiles.

Another challenge for the PRAA is to link the local knowledge and scientific knowledge. According to its representatives, it is important to contrast between science and what the local populations perceive, for that will enhance knowledge on Andes and climate change.