Revista Minam (inglés)

CINCO Noviembre 2014

IS TH

IS

AZIN A M AG T O N

MOUNTAIN

Source of life

DO WE KNOW THE GOODS AND SERVICES THIS ECOSYSTEM PROVIDES TO US?

E MORE ON TH E ENV IRON ME NT

You ask:

MINAM answers.

@CORREO

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Agents of change.

Five environmental stories confirm that peace and hope have come back to several communities in the mountains of Peru.

Today, their inhabitants face climate change by knowing and valuing their resources, preventing natural disasters and combining ancestral techniques with current knowledge of production. (Page. 12)

MINAM This is a publication of

Av. Javier Prado Oeste 1440 San Isidro Lima - Perú

Fifth Edition – Noviembre 2014 Printing 5000 copies Legal deposit at the National Library of Peru Nº 2013-14025 Printed at XXXXXXXX Telephone: XXXXX Address: XXXXXX

SPECIAL THANKS: This publication has been possible thanks to the technical and financial support of a group of public, private groups, and the international cooperation that are part of the driving group of the Pabellón de Montañas y Agua – COP20, which include: MINAM, MINAGRI, ANA, SENAMHI, SERNANP, COSUDE, PNUD, FAO, CONDESAN, Centro Internacional de la Papa, Proyecto PRODERN, PACC, Proyecto EbA Montaña, Proyecto MST Apurímac, Proyecto Glaciares 513 and Proyecto CAT, among others.

Ana Canchis Rodríguez

Hello Ana: We do have an Environmental Library at MINAM (BIAM). You can check it virtually by going to: http://cdam.minam.gob.pe:8080/. You can also access it by visiting our facilities (Av. Javier Prado Oeste 1440, San Isidro). At BIAM, you will find publications (books, brochures, magazines, etc.), as well as photo archives, videos and multimedia materials. You can browse our online catalogue at: catalogobiam.minam.gob.pe.

If you need more information, do not hesitate emailing us at biam@minam.gob.pe, or call us at 611-6000, extension 1332 and 1338.

The man harvesting water.

Silverio Choquenaira uses an ancestral technique to get this vital liquid in the highlands.

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(Or how these ecosystems provide goods and services to Peru).

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www.minam.gob.pe

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Special. Mother Mountain.

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Office of Communications and Institutional Image of the Ministry of Environment revistaminam@minam.gob.pe

IN THIS EDITION A

Editor:

I would like to know if you have an environmental library at the Ministry of Environment. I would like to access the books you may have available to investigate and learn more about the subject. What are the hours of operation and the requirements to access the academic material?

D IU

MINAM is the official acronym.

This publication bears this name and will not be another newsletter on the environment.

Voices for climate. This fair

of environmental knowledge places emphasis on climate change, as a parallel event to COP 20.

Pills for the Environment.

At the bottom of the page you will find the activities and cultural products that MINAM recommends.

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SAVE THE WORLD

Fresh Water availability concerns and obligates all to assume a new culture: savings and rational use of this vital resource. Each year, demand grows in our country. A Peruvian needs 50 liter of water by day to cover its basic needs, as food and cleaning. In Lima, however, unit consumption was 170.67 liters per day in 2013, a number that represent an expense of more than 150% from what it is necessary.

If we add to that that in the last 40 years, 40% of glacier Surface has been lost by the effect of the change (ANA), we are against a problem that requires a prompt action.

There are several Peruvians that suffer severe problems of fresh water provision. What habits can be changed to take care this valuable resource and be able to get it to more people?

Liters per activity

One of the first steps is to create awareness. For that, it is necessary to know how much water is used in daily activities that a common person does. Do you have any idea?

An open faucet: 20 liters per minute.

A shower: 100 liters per 5 minutes.

Brush teeth with open faucet: 20 liters.

Pull the toilet lever: from 6 to 18 liters every time.

Wash dishes: 100 liters per minute.

Leave an open hose irrigating: 1.200 liters per hour.

Wash the car with a hose: up to 500 liters in 25 minutes.

Wash clothes: 120 liters in a round.

Water and industry

Water in essential for domestic consumption and irrigation of agricultural areas, but also it is indispensable for the industry. If you seek to get a ton of petroleum, expert calculate, there is need 10 thousand liters of this resource. If you seek to start a thermal central of one million of kilowatts of power, you need to employ between 1.200 million and 1.600 millions of cubic meters of water each years.

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• Personal hygiene:

shower maximum 5 minutes. Close the faucet while you soap or apply shampoo or wash your teeth.

For this last task, preferably use a glass of water to rinse. You will save 12 liters of water per minute!

• Environment: avoid throwing trash, wastewater, or toxic substances in water sources: rivers, ponds, etc. That way, you will protect its quality and will lower treatment costs.

Institute for glaciers

The National Institute of Research in Glaciers and Mountain Ecosystems is almost a reality. The Council of

•

Kitchen: when washing dishes, first soak and soap dishes. Then, open the faucet to rinse. Do not let water run!

• Cleaning: : in order to wash clothes by hand, it is better to use a bucket or sink.

Look: doing it under the water jet from the faucet, you consume 40% of more water.

• Exteriors: for great surfaces of grass, use irrigation by drops technique.

• Use the tools It is estimated that a bad regulated faucet wastes between 80 to 670 litters of water. This loss not only can affect you wallet, but also thousands of people in the country, that will be deprived of that resource. That is why make sure that the faucets from your house are working in good condition.

• Regulate the water jet: allow saving in a simple way up to 50% of water.

• Repair any type of leakage: a leak of a pipe means 30 liters of water per day that are lost.

Ministers approved the draft law allowing the creation of this area aimed at scientific research and the conservation and development of policies for these ecosystems. We just need the Congress to give the final approval to this organization that will be attached to the Ministry of Environment.

Fuente: Autoridad Nacional del Agua (ANA)

The water you drink

MEASURING

What to do to take care of it?

News that make us smile and cry

Mindful of the impacts Four out of five Peruvians consider that climate change affects a small or large part of their region. This

and other revealing data are the results of a recent study by the Institute of Analysis and Communication that was performed in 19 regions of the country. The surveyed people indicated that garbage on the streets is also one of the main environmental problems. Also, citizens showed their concern about water and air pollution. There is awareness. Now, people need to take action.

Garbage on the streets Solid waste management is deficient in many districts of Lima and the country. To date, the Agency for Assessment and Environmental Control (OEFA) has performed 612 supervisions of the district, province municipalities, and regional governments, and found that 20 landfills had to be considered as “of high risk to the environment”.

Consequently, OEFA has filed a complaint with the Attorney General and the General Controller Office of the Republic to the landfills “La Moyuna” (Huánuco), “Pampas de Ñoco” (Ica), “El Milagro” (Arequipa), “El Edén” (Junín) and “Aguas de las Vírgenes” (Junín). Although there are efforts and successful cases in some municipalities, it is disturbing how this problem threatens and affects people’s health. It corresponds to the municipalities, responsible for the issue, to take actions on the matter.

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r e h t o M n i a t n u o m ecosystems (Or how mountain to the provide water contribute population and minerals , with food, energy in weather f o and a variety Peru)

Mountains, those giants that guard water in their snowy summits, feed rivers, seas, crop fields and each Peruvian household. In many areas of the country, mountains are called ‘Apus’, and the Andean population pays tribute to them with “payments to the Earth” and stone towers called “apachetas”. Through these rituals, they hope Apus will continue to provide what means life for them (and everybody else): water. Without it, land and crops would not exist. Nor would livestock, energy, plants, men nor women.

Studies indicate that these natural ‘castles’, where most watersheds are born, provide fresh water to 50% of the world’s population. Peru is rich in water: its mountains account for 71% of the world’s tropical glaciers.

Over the years, however, threats to this ecosystem and to water have become evident: high temperatures and climate change have stripped the mountains. Now, they look without their white ponchos, meaning, without their glaciers, commonly called snowcapped mountains, and located in higher areas. Glaciers work as water collectors during seasons with rainfall excess. They provide water for domestic, agricultural or industrial usage during the dry season, when rain is scarce or no drop falls from the sky.

Jesús Gómez, head of the Huascarán National Park. In Pastoruri, the historic snowy mountain of the Peruvian Cordillera Blanca, a lake and ice blocks is what is left of this time.

In the Huascarán National Park, you can feel the vulnerability of this ecosystem to climate change and the high risk involved. In mountain regions and surrounding areas, avalanches, landslides, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and floods from glacier lakes constitute a threat.

The lake that engineer Jesús Gómez mentions does not have a name.

It was only a water puddle in 2001, but it has been growing with the deglaciation process.

By 2018, the disappearance of Pastoruri is predicted, a snowy mountain witness of the retreat. It would not be a new event in With the retreat of glaciers Peru: it already happeover the last decades, the ned with the Chonta snowy landscape surrounding the mountain, a water source of mountains looks different. the Choclococha lake that In some cases, puddles can supplies the regions of Ica be seen; in others, lakes. and Huancavelica. It occurred The postcard image that two years ago. This is why snowy attracts tourists to the mountains are also considered great Cordillera Blanca has labs to study environmental phenomechanged. “You see sig- na from the past and from the present. nals of climate change They can help prepare for the future. on the lake”, warns

A story written on ice

Lonnie Thompson is one of the most important glaciologists on the planet, who received the equivalent of the Nobel Price of Science, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement. This North American geologist takes with him pieces of ice from snowy mountains from different parts of the world that he stores in his “ice collection”. The ice, he explains, allows us to reconstruct the history of the Earth. In its composition, it stores paleo climate data (the state of the climate in historic times).

For the creation of the Inca Empire, Thompson says that the fusion of the Quechuas with the Aimaras was key. The latter moved to the north to survive. Like the Aimaras, the ancient Peruvians have managed to face dry periods since hundreds of years ago - and they did so very well.

Thompson has been studying Peruvian glaciers since 1974. The Quelcaya snowy mountain, one of the water sources of the Amazon river, is one of its great loves, and it was a direct witness of the Aimara migration.

“The Quelcaya is a very nice, healthy and big glacier. As we have been working with it, I have seen it as a big friend that is dying”, sustains Thompson. Quelcaya is expected to be extinct by 2020.

The latest news about the glaciers from the Peruvian Andes gather shocking data: 81% from 755 existing glaciers measures less than one square kilometer, and 41% of the ice from the highlands has been lost in the last 30 years, according to the National Service of Meteorological and Hydrology (SENAMHI).

Beyond statistics and forecasts, this link of Thompson with the mountain, almost fraternal, is key to relate with nature differently. Only this way, warns Thompson, will we be able to strengthen ties with the planet and face climate change: “The twenty-first century will not be about how we get along one with another, but how we get along with nature. That will be the most important thing”.

Ancient Peruvians knew that.

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Ancestral knowledge

The ancient Peruvians domesticated Andean grains and established mechanisms for water use, and the expansion of the agriculture border at very difficult areas. Terraces, made with stone, play a fundamental role in water control, because they avoid wasting it by impeding drainage. This way, floods are prevented, and water is not lost along the way. Also, terraces prevent soil erosion, and allow for an appropriate distribution of different agricultural activities.

“Terraces are a testimony of pre-Hispanic adaptation. The Incas were doing it way before there was a concern about climate change, or the concept even existed”, sustains Gonzalo Llosa, advisor to the Minister of Environment.

Llosa mentions another ancestral technique: the amunas, a quechua word that means “retain”. It consists of collecting rainwater in the altitudes, before filtering it through rocks by amuna water ditches, to be collected later on by springs - almost like harvesting water close to the sky.

And close to the sky, as we know, everything is more complex: mountains generate a combination of climates, soils and microenvironments that hold a varied biological and ecosystem diversity. That was the wealth of the ancient Pe-

Environmental Volunteering Join the Youth Environmental Volunteering Network and support the actions of different public and private institutions.

For more information: zonajovenes@minam.gob.pe

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ruvians, and that is the wealth that Peru should look at, enhance and preserve.

It is enough to step on the heights of Huancavelica, Puno or Cusco to witness that terraces such as the amunas are practices kept until now in the country. Both, combined with modern techniques such as the tech irrigation, can be replicated in other basins to become a solution for what it is happening in the Andes, and to guarantee the sustainability of the resource. “The ancient Peruvians had skills that can be part of the solution”, Llosa suggests. This is what it is about: to adapt to the effects of climate change, and that is where we are going to go.

In the land of ancient Peruvians, mountains play their best role: they provide us with a diversity of ecosystems such as high Andean grasslands (puna), bushes, relict forests, lakes and ponds, as well as wetlands, glaciers and fog forests. But there is a paradox in this story: although mountains have become essential for sustainable development of pre-Hispanic cultures, today people living on their slopes are the most vulnerable to climate change. How are we preparing?

Do your Part Thousands of Peruvians committed to act on climate.

How are you committed?

Simple, joint actions can make a big change. http://www.pondetuparte.com/

¿A retribution for environmental impact?

Frost and rainy seasons have stopped having fixed months. Because of this, Cusco farmers like Alejandro Quispe have changed agriculture for livestock. Frost falls any time, and ruins their crops.

What they harvest now is for self-consumption. In the worst case scenario, they must go buy their food. “When I was a child, my parents had good crops. We don’t anymore”, Alejandro laments.

Climate change has made water stop freezing in the summits and ice has retreated, leaving only broken stone behind. With less snow on the peaks, water discharge is less. This is of concern for Andean people like Alejandro, who suffer the daily consequences. Under this scenario, terraces and amunas become alternatives to face current times.

In Canas (Cusco), the land of Alejandro, not only agriculture has been impacted. Some animals die because of the lack of water, fodder and grasslands. Today, mountains and people like him are threatened due to processes that escape from them: urban growth, migration, economical activities and climate change, among others. Should the population centers in high areas receive a direct compensation due to the ecosystem services that their ponds, springs, fields and even rivers provide?

In Peru, Congress just enacted the Law for Mechanisms of Retribution for Ecosystem Services promoted by the Ministry of Environment.

This law proposes something innovative for the country: if you get benefits from the mountain ecosystem, then you should give back with actions in favor of the conservation, recovery and sustainable use of the ecosystems. It sounds logic. Is it possible to both carry out extraction economic activities and preserve natural heritage? The objective is to make this possible.

Alejandro Quispe understands climate and mountain behavior as well as the back of his hand. He grew up looking at the snow giants, noticing the wind, and how it influences the rain. If the wind comes from the south, there will be frost; if it comes from the west, it will rain. This empirical knowledge is one of his treasures.

Without going too far, Alejandro knows this ecosystem is the foundation for agriculture production. Perhaps he has the intuition, with the wisdom that years provide, that it has also have been key for other economic activities. What he does not know, like most of the population in the country, is that mountains have contributed up to 15% of GDP in 2013. In other words, they allowed for a wealth equivalent to 68 million 637 thousand nuevos soles. Beyond the figures, Alejandro Quispe is convinced that without mountains there would be no life for him and his family.

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Guardians of biodiversity At 4 thousand meter a.s.l., the value of mountains can be seen in the hands of Julio Hancco and Rosa Melo Quispe. This couple from Cusco treasures the most diverse variety of native potatoes, which are cultivated on their land of Qanqaupata, in the community of Pampacorral. Facing the snowy mountains of Sawasiray and Pitusiray, Julio and Rosa have preserved and cultivated 186 types of potatoes in the valley of Lares, province of Calca, Cusco. While Julio was recognized a guardian of biodiversity at the Gastronomical Fair “Mistura 2010” with the “Golden Pepper” awardas, his wife Rosa also plays a key role.

Beyond mountains, Peru highlands and the Himalayas share something else: the role of women as people who give life and spread knowledge. Like the seeds. Like the mountains. Like Rosa. This is the statement from the Indian leader Vandana Shiva, who left a message that deeply impacted dozens of Peruvian rural women. “Generations of women have been farmers, experts in seeds, producers and selectors”. But their knowledge has never been recognized. If you recover the knowledge of a grandmother, you recover the knowledge for many. This applies to all areas”.

This has happened in Peru, in the Himalayas and other mountain territories. Ancestral knowledge has been transferred over time in mountain areas that cover, approximately, one fourth of the planet’s land surface. In other words, they include 12% of human population, according the United Nations

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Organization for Food and Agriculture (FAO). If the world’s population is almost 7 thousand million, then 840 million of men and women live in mountain areas, or are related to these ecosystems. How many guardians of this knowledge and protectors of biodiversity like Julio and Rosa live on the planet?

“There are no native products without native societies. This is the case of native potatoes: thanks to cultural heritage, traditional and of social management, we have an interesting range of potato variety”, said Julio and Rosa, members of the National Association of Ecological Producers from Peru (ANPE PERU). Without them, we wouldn’t be talking about a Peruvian ‘gastronomy boom’. With them, instead, food safety brings hope.

What if we started seeing mountains as managers of life? Next time we open the faucet at a coastal house, we would then know where the water is coming from.

When we turn on a light bulb, we would guess the origin of that energy. When we buy potatoes at the market, we would recognize they come from the Andes.

When we talk about Peruvian biodiversity, we would highlight the role of these giants that provide us with all these resources from the highest peaks down to us who are down there, dwarfed by their immensity. Without proper recognition, there won’t be significant changes.

Fragile ecosystems Ecosistemas frágiles

Peruvian Government recognizes mountains as ElThe Gobierno peruano reconoce a las montañas fragile ecosystems, promoting their special proteccomo ecosistemas frágiles, fomentando su especial tion and sustainable use (Art. sostenible 99 and 100(Art. from99the protección y aprovechamiento y General Environmental N° 28611).

100 de la Ley General delLaw Ambiente N° 28611).

Goodsy and services Bienes servicios

Social projects If you are an established organization, and you have identified a social problem, you may submit an innovative proposal, feasible, and replicable to this contest from Universidad Pacifico Information: http://emprendeup.pe/ concursos

Mountains food, water, minerals, and forest Las montañasprovide proveen alimentos, agua, minerales latter are divided in timber and en y products. productosThe forestales.

Estos últimos se dividen non-timber.y The first one refers to wood,seand the maderables no maderables.

El primero refiere oney to trees: roots, a second la madera el products segundo, derived a todos from los que provenbranches, leaves, flowers, raíces, fruits, seeds, gan de la corta de árboles: tallos, resins, hojas, latex, among others. flores, frutos, semillas, gomas, resinas, látex, entre otros.

Protected Protegidos The National System of Natural Areas Protected

the Government (SINANPE) contemplates in its Elby Sistema Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas listelmountain ecosystemscontempla such as the por Estado (SINANPE) enHuascaran su listado Park, and Nor-Yauyos-Cochas Lanscape a National los ecosistemas dethe montañas, como el Parque Reserve,Huascarán among other natural treasures Nacional y la Peruvian Reserva Paisajística Nor Yauyos-Cochas, entre otras riquezas naturales peruanas.

Adaptation to changes The Ministry of Environment promotes and executes Adaptación a los cambios a series of projects to fight climate change at the Sustainable Economic Elhighlands: MinisterioThe del Program Ambientefor promueve y ejecuta Development and Strategic Management of Natural una serie de proyectos para combatir el cambio Resources Ayacucho,EBA Huancavelica, climático en in lasApurímac, alturas: PRODERN, Montaña, Junín and Pasco (PRODERN), EBA Mountain, Glaciares 513 y MST-Apurímac.

Todos ellos están Glaciers 513, the de Project Sustainableque Management cambiando la vida los pobladores viven en ofzonas Land de (MST – Apurímac), among others. those las montañas, permitiendo que se All adapcontribute soclimático, that mountain population adapt ten al cambio que conserven mejor el to climate conserve water, grasslands agua, los change, pastos ybetter sus animales, y tengan una mejor and their have a better land to plant tierra para animals, sembrar and y cosechar. and harvest.

(Fuente: Pasasasasal).

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f o s r e d a e L

e E g G n N a A h H C

munities. m o c in ta n u o m l ra ack hope to seve b n e sources, iv g re e g v a in h lu a ts v c d je n a ro p g l in ta change by know Five environmen te a m li c to t n e li si re re Today, they are mo l disasters. tura and preventing na

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g: Earlythwrearnin s Profesat of floods, sustain

The longer generates sor Irma Caque, no ago. At school N° ars the same fear as ye , professors and stuca ar m na Ya in 86303, peace peace: “We have dents have found t important thing is the os and safety - the m job they Irma refers to the cash, ”. ue iss l na io emot Án z, ua rh g out in Ca have been carryin ct produced by climate pa to mitigate the im at of snow. “Now we tre re e th d an ge an d the ch ea of evacuation anus to ar e th re know whe s ke d how long it ta safety zone are, an have changed their atts en evacuate. Stud titude”, she adds.

Students from school No 86303, In Yanamarca (Carhuaz), perform an evacuation drill, and they locate themselves in a safe area for a possible flood.

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2010, a block of ice Four years ago, in ountain Hualcán, r ie m broke off the glac lo-wave in lake 513, od er et ts among causing a 28 m flo e Th r. ie ac hich causes conflic r part of gl w e , th ity of od ot m fo m e co th . It cated at middle and lowe d fields and houses inhabitants of the . wiped out cultivate monitor the lake, and ed to the sub-watersh was then decided the population about in s es en ar aw a way to solve e that to raise ve realized there is to work with of an emergency lik ha se e ca “W in do to t ha d w we starte this problem since es 513, in July of 2012”, one. iar lac G to ec the the Proy cash iraldo, president of 2012, works in An sustains Artemio G s Committee. The poTwo years later, in arning and prevener rly w Hualcán Water Us s, now knows the Wastarted, and an ea signed against possible ain pl ex he n, de io pulat of an popution system was and the existence r to safeguard the ter Resource Law, es water: “We should landslides, in orde ag authority that man ually. Local authorilation of the area. eq er at w e ut rib dist out the her threat to the more sensitive ab that we ot dy an ea is e alr e er ar th s r, tie ve Howe , for ty of the resource z: the lack of water amount and quali people of Carhua agricultural usage. Des. d have”, he adds both domestic an ttom of the lakes and bo e th at g in liv ce pite wadays a very scar glaciers, water is no

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IIt has go infall that used to to the passing of ra rden where many to a ga drag everything, w scenario has been ne is ho crops grow. Th Eugenio Paúcar, w possible thanks to ces on the slope of a has carved out terrammunity of San Anmountain, in the co n those terraces, crop O tonio, Apurímac. , so the soil is strenged tic ac pr is n tio ta ro thened. to the ces as a response Eugenio used terra suffers great parts of at s and desertification th ac. In Cotabamba nsiím ur Ap of nd la e th co is il so e th of 92% Grau, for example, eaning it is vulnerable m k, ris gh hi as d dere

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GREEN AND DISTINGUISHED

Photograpy: MINAM

ture, and restored wetlands and grasslands.

This is what it is all about: to preserve nature’s services for the development of the population of those areas.

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The value of nature

Thanks to the Project “Promoviendo el Manejo Sostenible de la Tierra” (Promoting Sustainable Land Management) (MST-Apurímac), now they know about land prevention and conservation through what they call “combined practices”: a body of knowledge that incorporates traditional knowledge and new production systems, in order to reduce pressure on the scarce productive land of the region. This way, it has been possible to increase the productivity of Apurimac farmers - between 150% and 250% - and to value traditional crops such as tarwi, kiwicha, corn, faba beans, beans, native potatoes, and to raise alpacas.

As of today, some 2,500 families from 23 communities from those three provinces of Apurimac have benefited from the project through the harvest of agro-ecological products. Under the Brand “Pachamamanchis Rayku” (“By our Land”), they are already 14

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selling them in fairs like Mistura and Expoalimentaria, and they are seeking new ways to export.

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Water, grass and vicuñas

People in the highlands of Lima and Junín are standing up to climate change by taking care of water, grass and vicuñas.

The idea of the project for Adaptation based on Mountain Ecosystems (EBA, for its acronym in English), implemented by the Ministry of Environment, seems simple enough: to utilize nature’s services for the use, restoration and better management of these ecosystems. Even at more than 4 thousand meters above sea level, everything becomes more complex.

At the farming community of Tanta, in Yauyos, inhabitants depend on sheep farming, alpaca and vicuña. Vicuñas are raised in special areas for the production of their wool. With the support of the Government’s National Service of Protected Natural Areas (SERNANP), the Nor Yauyos-Cochas Landscape Reserve has organized their livestock, rehabilitated the ancestral water infrastruc-

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to erosion and desertification. In both provinces, besides Antabamba, training and internships were provided to raise awareness of small producers.

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How much are worth the goods and services that nature provides to a community? The first thing inhabitants of these areas say is that we need to understand the importance of each of them, and to recognize their importance on biological diversity. In 2011, an intervention happened in the most depressed area of the Peruvian Andes to better manage natural heritage with a strategic vision. With that knowledge, today many people from those regions carry out their economic activities in harmony, while taking care of the environment.

A man harvesting water

Potato treasure

In the past, old women remember, people from the city used to despise their native potatoes. Now, they proudly say, they keep asking for them: “There are no others in the world with that flavor and color that we have always liked”. In this community of Huancavelica, mothers no longer think about giving up potato cultivation, quite the opposite. Thanks to the IssAndes project, native potatoes can contribute to improving the harsh conditions of chronic malnutrition affecting children less than 3 year old of their region.

In this highland area, one of the main causes of anemia and infant chronic malnutrition is macro and micro nutrient deficiency. An initial research indicates that the variety of native potatoes can be an interesting complementary source of vitamin C, iron and zinc. Knowledge of the nutritional quality of that traditional food and training of mothers are key in this crusade.

“We recall how our families used to be able to maintain themselves well by eating these potatoes, and they did not have many diseases”, says an enthusiastic mother. At this rate, food safety and the health of their children may seem to be guaranteed.®

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About two years ago, in the community of Santa Inés, change was unanimously embraced. Through an act, the population committed to take care of the land, to keep animals far away, and to restore the fertility cycle of their land. Sometimes you have to lose everything to start valuing what you have. The Program for Sustainable Economic Development and Strategic Management of Natural Resources (PRODERN) wants to avoid reaching that point to raise awareness: its objective is to put into value the Natural Heritage from different communities of Apurímac, Ayacucho, Huancavelica, Junín and Pasco.

Silverio Choquenaira is a Cusco peasant leader that uses an ancestral technique to obtain water in the highlands and fight against climate change.

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t 55 years old, Silverio Choquenaira does not forget the image had the apu Laramani, the great mountain located besides his community.

“Before, he was with its White poncho, full of snow. But over the years, you do not see even a white mole. Now it is only dressed up in black, but still, it is urinating”. Silverio refers that the snowy mountain is still providing that vital element to survive in the planet: the water. Although he has realized that with that portion is not enough. For some time, Silverio harvests water in the highlands, more than 4 thousand meters a.s.l.

He does that by a ancestral technique recovered thanks to the Adaptation Program to Climate Change (PACC) from the Environment Ministry, in alliance with the Sweeden Cooperation. It is about collecting, by small dams, rainfall water in the highlands. Then, this one infiltrates in the ground, and by gravity action, it shows up in the lower parts. This way, it provides natural

supply to more than thousand people from the district of Kunturkanki, in Canas, Cusco. “In the fountains and streams, the flow rate increases. We have seen the result.

We take the water from the Pachamama”, he tells.

In his community, Pumatalla, it lives 250 householders.

Before, when frost and rain seasons where fixed, they were dedicated to agriculture. Today, the little they harvest is for self-consumption: potato, quinoa, wheat, barley. To survive, they had to dedicate themselves to livestock. “With milk and cheese, we sustain the economy”, says this father of four children.

“We try not overgrazing to preserve the environment”, sustains Silverio. Without a field there is no future for the population: “The peasant plows the land and take to the market their products, and that the population consumes. We should not forget our land, because it provides us with water, it gives us life”.

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WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

Glaciers with the days numbered?

Alerts: It is estimated that in the next

10 years, all glaciers below 5 thousand meters may disappear. Thus, for 2030, water availability in

the Pacific watershed would

decrease by 6% (except in the extreme north).

Current studies confirm recent disturbing figures and forecasts.

President Ollanta Humala just announced to the world, at the United Stations Summit for Climate Change in New York, that Peru may lose up to 20% of its GDP by 2050 if no actions are taken against this phenomenon. By 2030, the

president assured, a reduction of 5% of this indicator would already be seen. The question is: What will happen to our glaciers and the provision of water, and what actions are being taken?

Disorders: Extreme rainfall would show

a possible decrease in the next 30 years in large parts of the Peruvian territory. The largest increase in the minimum temperature would reach 1.4°C.

O R F N O I T A C U D E M N E O N R I T V N E THE

Different Authorities from MINAM, CULTURA, PRODERN and from the Regional Government of Ayacucho and the Valley of Sondondo participated in the event “Diálogos Ambientales” (Environmental Talks).

The subject was: “Cultural Landscape, a proposal for Sustainable development, evaluation and application of ancestral knowledge in mountain ecosystems. The experience of Sondondo Valley”.

The Environmental Ministry, Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, participated in the Climate Mobilization of the Villages during the United Nations Summit on Climate Change, in Nueva York. He did it next to the UNO General Secretary, Ban Ki-moon and the famous primatologist Jane Goodall, among other personalities. At the end of the meeting, Perú, which had a delegation led by president Ollanta Humala, adhered to the New York Declaration. This document highlights the importance of the forests in the planet.

Resources: The largest glacier water reserve potential Measures: the National Water Authority (ANA) monitors 10 pilot glaciers, distributed in different snowy mountain ranges. This information

is relevant to know glacier dynamics

is located in the basins of Santa, Urubamba, Marañón and Inambari, which together form the largest glacier surface with 359,62 km2 (27,69 %), 272,9

km2 (21,01%), 198,34 km2 (15,27%), and 148,76 km2 (11,45%), respectively. This record, produced by ANA,

represents valuable information for managing water resources.

related to the effects of climate change.

Actions: the National Service of Meteorology and Hydrology of Peru (SENAMHI) recently installed an automatic meteorological station at 5800 m.a.s.l., on the Coropuna glacier

(Arequipa), one of the highest glaciers together with Huascarán (Áncash), Huaytapayana (Junín), and Quisoquipina (Cusco). It is planned to place another east station in the highlands of Lima, in the Chuecón glacier, whose waters are vital for the valley of Mala.

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SociEty MINAM

The Biodiversity Show-window was presented at the Great Market of the Mistura 2014 Fair. This cabinet, presented by the Environmental Ministry Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, showed the relationship of the ancient Perú with the current gastronomy.

He did it by a historical journey and very visual about the past, present and the future of the Peruvian biodiversity, the ancestral knowledge, and its close link with food. For that, a group of sacking women from the Kuyanakuy Association (which means let’s love each other, in quechua) make two colorful and illustrative panels.

CHRONIC

all s e c vo i

ated d p u d e an ill be t w e l e p g m n called t co cha s e e o c t a a m p m s e i Th n on cl irst time in a limate). o i t a m r info or the f (Voices for C vents f d e t n prese l clima” t important e e r o p “Voces e of the mos 0 in Lima. n 2 This is o d during COP e organiz

Peru, as a host country for COP20, wanted to open a space for dialogue to bring together key information on climate change from the country and the rest of the world. This is “Voces por el clima”, a knowledge fair in which five topics have been prioritized: Forests, Mountains and Water, Oceans, Energy, and Sustainable Cities.

Each of these emblematic topics is shown in halls covering a total of 3,600 m2 of museum exhibit. Prior to that, the Main Hall explains what climate change is, the progress made in the issues, and the role of Peru in the climate debate, and as a country in charge of COP20. Everything that 18

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will occur in the official venue of COP20 - very close to Climate Fair - will be displayed in real time on a giant screen.

The goal is that, by the end of COP 20 (which goes from December 1-12th), a consensual roadmap be designed by stakeholders in the public system and civil society with regards to these five big topics, and they establish commitments for the near future.

But there is more than these five topics. The so-called “Maloca” of Indigenous People is a meeting area

of organizations and representatives from those groups, both from Peru and the rest of the world. Their initiatives and knowledge on climate change are key in the fight for preserving the planet.

It is known that the effects on climate change can have different impacts in the Peruvian territory due to its characteristics. Peru is one of the 10 megadiverse countries in the world: it has the second largest Amazonian forest, and the chain of tropical mountains of greater surface. 84 out of 104 areas of life identified in the world can be found in Peru. Also, our country has a great glacial wealth with no less than 71% of the world’s tropical glaciers.

As a matter of fact, “Voces del Clima” seeks to raise awareness and to promote our natural wealth, not only through discussions and roundtables, but also with artistic and eco-cultural expositions, whose purpose is to protect and spread biological, geographical, ecological, cultural, ethnic, archaeological and artistic diversity. “Voces por el Clima” will be an area where ancient Peru and its traditional knowledge can be heard. ®

Learn more

• ”Voces por el Clima” will take place at Jockey Club del Peru (Av. El Derby 15023, Santiago de Surco). Admission is free. Schedule is from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., from the 1st until the 12th of December.

• COP20 will take place in the Army Headquarters (Cuartel General del Ejército) (Av. Boulevard S/N, San Borja), from the 1st – 12th of December.

Admission is restricted and subject to prior accreditation under the rules for this type of events.

• Lima COP20 should establish the foundation for a New Global Agreement to be signed in 2015 (at COP21 in Paris). It should take effect in 2020, to implement specific actions to reduce emissions.

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PORTFOLIO

STANDING BEFORE A NEW SCENARIO 20

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Photograpy: MINAM

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portfolio NATURAL WEALTH.

Different environmental initiatives developed in the country look to meet the same objective in the mountain areas from PerĂş: put in value the natural patrimony of Andean communities.

Because the goods and services that nature provides to the inhabitants from those locations are

limate change has transformed

the Scenario of inhabitants from

mountain areas. It is as if suddenly,

they were following the script of a movie very different of what their life was up until recently. In this one, the White poncho from the snowy mountain has been disappearing, and it is almost a bare hill; the productive calendars have had to modify their beginning dates of planting; agriculture has been reduced, making a way for livestock; and water, finally, has become a scarce commodity.

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In this new role, however, they have shown their great ability to adapt themselves to this new scenario, presenting a sustainable development and a climate irrigation management before any emergency. Without them, and without mountains, there would not be water, nor food, nor energy, nor plants, nor many more other resources. That is why, projects undertaken by the Environment Ministry and other local And foreign institutions, as well as different Initiatives from civil society, play an important role in this history. Because the movie may be different, but the planet is the same and it is time to protect it.

Underwater Paint It is the name of an exhibition on a spectacular project: how a man does artwork on the sea floor. A photographer records the process and tells us about the project, whose purpose is to raise awareness.

Information of the sample:

Ecological Award The Toulouse-Lautrec School of Design is looking for the best ecological design project for its next Padis award.

More information at: 617-2400, informes@tls.edu.pe http://www.tls.edu.pe.

www.pinturasubmarina.com

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M) AMBIENT V (MINA

the tional Park is one of The Huascarรกn Na , as shown in by global warming w of the areas most affected

by TV Peru. The cre this image captured ascended visited the Park, and h the AmbienTv program mountain, talking wit the Hualcรกn snowy ate change. ggles to adapt to clim population that stru bienTv, a program You can follow Am day at ironment, every Sun u. of the Ministry of Env 9:30 a.m. on TV Per