Peru’s glaciers have been reduced by climate change, report says

O Peru has lost 56% of its tropical glaciers in the last six decades due to climate change, according to a new government survey released on Wednesday.

O country holds 68% of the world’s tropical glaciers, and rising temperatures have led to the melting and creation of new mountain lakes, which are at risk of overflowing and causing flooding, according to the National Institute for Glacier and Mountain Ecosystem Research.

The report uses satellite images taken up to 2020 and shows that 2,084 glaciers cover 1,050 square kilometers in the Perucompared to 2,399 square kilometers of ice and snow in 1962.

“In four years, from 2016 to 2020, we lost almost 6% of these high-mountain glaciers,” said Beatriz Fuentealba, director of the institute, from the Ancash region, where many of the glaciers have disappeared.

According to the study, 164 lakes have been formed or are in the process of forming in the last four years, bringing the number of glacial lakes to 8,466, covering about 1,081 square kilometers.

“The new lagoons could be, in the future, water reserves, but being at high altitudes they pose the danger of overflows and floods,” said Jesus Gomez, director of glacier research at the Ministry of the Environment.

Almost all tropical glaciers in the Peru are more than 6,000 meters above sea level, while the new lagoons are at an altitude of between 4,000 and 5,000 meters, the report said.

Almost 20 million Peruyears benefit directly or indirectly from water flowing down from glaciers, according to the report.

“This means that we have lost more than half of our water reserves,” said Environment Minister Albina Ruiz, noting that glacial retreat is affecting the mountains’ natural ecosystem.