UNITED NATIONS.- Los tropical glaciers of the Andes are some of the fastest degrading ice caps in the world, the United Nations Environment Program said today (pnuma).
A study by that body specified that its disappearance affects the rivers of the Amazon Basin, it changes life in mountain communities, causes water scarcity and hinders hydroelectric power generation in lowlands that are home to hundreds of millions of people.
“People throughout the Amazon Basin have begun to learn first-hand what climate change means for their way of life,” said UNEP Freshwater and Marine Branch Senior Coordinator, Leticia Carvalho.
The research underlined that indigenous peoples and local communities are the least responsible for the emissions that cause climate change, but will have to adapt to extremely hostile circumstances and new ways of life that are less harmonious with nature.
Given this new climatic normality, it is executed by the Organization of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty a project in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela, with funding from the Global Environment Facility, to harness sustainable alternative water supplies.
Data from pnuma indicate that the Andes have lost between 30 and 50 percent of their ice cover in the last 40 years, a situation that adds to the unfortunate news that the most vulnerable glaciers have already disappeared.
This melting has disrupted the flow of water into the Amazon basin, the world’s largest water source, drying up wetlands and intensifying fears of water scarcity.
It is important that countries act now because climate change will only make things worse, Carvalho warned.
Initiatives such as the improvement of rainwater harvesting, the re-humidification of wetlands and the switch to crops that are more resistant to drought in arid areas, are some of the initiatives put into practice to reduce vulnerabilities.
Also in other regions, the loss of glaciers is expected to reduce the availability of water for agriculture, hydroelectric power and human settlements in the medium and long term, stressed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Source and photo Prensa Latina
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