Environmental Issues
Written by Alison
Lima, Peru faces an environment that does need
help, but not one so severe as to be in desperation or else many will die, in terms
of environmental problems when compared to other cities that have major
pollution issues and such. For Peru, climate change and air pollution are just two of those
problems that have become really severe and need help. In 2014, Peru scored a 45.05 on the
Environmental Performance Index (EPI), coming in as 110th place in
the world, in which the EPI is a metric system that analyzes the performance of a
country with respect to high-priority environmental issues, mainly about the protection
of human health from environmental harm and the protection of the many ecosystems
themselves. However, the 2011 study known as Lima Como Vamos revealed that environmental pollution has become the second most important issue of Lima,
coming only behind that of safety, making it very clear that environmental issues are
becoming more prevalent to Lima. Peru is home to 70 percent of the world’s
tropical glaciers, to nearly the entire world’s major ecosystems, and to more
fish species than any other country on earth. However, almost half of the
volume of many of the glaciers have melted away in just the last thirty or so
years. These ecosystems can be said to be visibly destroyed through the the eyes of anyone as not only that, but fisheries are also being threatened, making this also a fight for Peru to win in itself. Peru’s main environmental problems are air pollution,
water pollution, soil erosion and pollution, and deforestation, not including
its major issues of climate change which will be further explained later. Air
pollution is a problem, specifically to Lima, due to its industrial and vehicle
emissions. From industrial sources, there are carbon dioxide emissions totaled
to be 26.1 million metric tons in 1996 that have only been growing
exponentially ever since. Water pollution is another one of Lima’s concerns as its
sources include industrial waste, sewage, and oil-related waste as the nation
of Peru has 1,746 cubic kilometers of renewable water resources with 86 percent
used to support farming and seven percent for industrial activity. This leaves
only 87 percent of the city dwellers and 62 percent of the rural population
having access to pure drinking water. Soil erosion and pollution is another
major environmental issue of Lima, Peru that is caused by overgrazing on the
slopes of the mountains and the topography of Peru, which includes much wind and water that is threatening the
soil. Deforestation is also another key issue as it is also a source of carbon
dioxide emissions when trees are cut down as many of these environmental issues
are connected to one another. As one can see, major issues of the city, Lima,
include climate change, deforestation, air pollution, water pollution, soil erosion,
and soil pollution that need to be prioritized within Lima and given a proper solution to solving it.
Peru’s striking, metropolitan capital of Lima shockingly has been found to have the worst air pollution of all Latin American cities, according to a recent study in 2014 by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Meteorological Organization. According to the WHO report that analyzed 1,600 cities in 91 countries, only twelve percent of the world’s urban population actually breathes clean air. More importantly, however, the director of public health and the environment at WHO, Maria Neira, found that the situation of having clean air without any pollution has failed in almost all of the cities that were part of the study, especially in developing countries, according to daily Peru.21. The study looked at the level of fine particles, known as PM 2.5 which stands for particulate matter in chemistry, that are in the air and are harmful to human health, in which health experts measured air quality by qualifying air as clean if there are less than ten micrograms of fine particles per square meter. If there are any more than ten micrograms, the air is considered to be contaminated and harmful to any one person’s health. In the city of Lima, a coastal city of approximately nine million people nestled between the Andes Mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west, experts measured that the average level of micrograms was 38, according to the WHO. Besides the amount of micrograms per square meter, the World Health Organization also classifies clean air through the amount of atmospheric dust found within the air every month that people on average inhale. Approximately zero to fourteen tons per square kilometer of dust is the minimum amount, while the maximum level recommended by the WHO for safety is 5.2 tons per square kilometer per month. However, in some parts of Lima, like in San Juan de Lurigancho, those numbers can reach as high as eight times the recommended maximum levels. Also, according to the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES), a group of 48 economic and social research institutions in Peru, the high pollution rate has caused over 5,000 deaths between 2007 and 2011, in which approximately 80 percent of such was directly connected and caused by the air pollution from public transport. If it is not death as an effect of contaminated air in a person’s health, it is the destruction of one’s respiratory and cardiovascular systems or itchy, bubbly skin. Although the WHO report does also indicate that the pollution levels have improved in the city of Lima throughout the recent decade, it still shows that the levels are extremely high especially in the parts of the city in the northern cone of the metropolitan area. For example, according to the report, the most polluted parts of the city are in the northern cone region of Ventanilla, Puente Piedra, and San Martin de Porres, where the level of pollution reaches up to 58 micrograms, while in eastern Lima is the level 36 and in the south is it 29. Not only that, but in 2013, the National Institute of Statistics and Information (INEI), reported that the most polluted districts in Lima were Ate and El Agustino in the east, while other districts with severe air pollution included Villa Maria del Triunfo, Santa Anita, Jesus Maria, and also San Borja. According to Luis Tagle, the executive coordinator of the Clear Air Initiative committee for Lima, the principal causes of the city’s pollution are poor fuel quality and vehicles on the road that are active even when more than twenty years old. Specifically, experts say that the principal culprits for this are the taxis, private cars, buses, and trucks that are used to transport the city’s inhabitants. Tagle told La Republica, “Systems like the Metropolitano, which uses gas, or the Lima Metro [electric] have somewhat reduced pollution…but not entirely,” in which used vehicles can no longer be imported and the current government has succeeded in removing many of the older public transport vehicles from the road. Although these steps have been taken in ensuring less air pollution, there has also been a dramatic increase in the number of private vehicles, creating heavy traffic congestion, not only in the industrial and heavily populated areas, but also throughout the entire city of Lima. Therefore, air pollution is a major problem of Lima as the levels of pollution recognized to be safe for human health are way, way beneath the actual amounts that should not be found in Lima’s atmosphere.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Special Report on Emissions Scenarios and the Stern Review, Peru is placed as one of the countries that will be most affected by the effects of climate change. Although Peru is responsible for just 0.1 to 0.4 percent of the global carbon dioxide emissions among other greenhouse gases worldwide, it is one of the countries suffering the most from the impacts of climate change. Figures from the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios indicate that Peru will see the greatest temperature rises due to climate change as their figures predict a dry season average temperature increase of 0.7 degrees Celsius to possibly 1.8 degrees Celsius by 2020. The Stern Review also confirms that Peru is one of the world’s most climate vulnerable countries as expected in 2050 for there to be an increase of between one degree Celsius and four degrees Celsius. Besides such predictions, consequentially, Peru has already lost 39 percent of its tropical glaciers due to a 0.7 degree Celsius temperature rise in the Andes between 1939 and 2006. Even with such a report, it is noted that there will be a predicted temperature rise of up to six degrees Celsius in many parts of the Andes by the end of this century that will then lead to “harmful impacts on human development.” According to the United Kingdom’s Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, Peru was ranked third after Bangladesh and Honduras in climate hazard risks. Therefore, climate change and greenhouse gases are a major issue with temperature rises.
Speaking of temperature rises in response to climate change, Lima has been suffering from a water crisis because of the melting glaciers and ice caps. Since 1906, the Earth’s temperature has warmed about 0.74 degrees Celsius that is greatly impacting the high elevations where most glaciers are found and used as crucial water sources for millions of people. This could trigger a major water supply crisis. In the eastern Peruvian Andes, the Quelccya Ice Cap has for centuries been providing the surrounding farmlands with precious runoff water, but today, scientists confirm that the ice cap is shrinking at an increasing rate. During the fifteen years between 1963 and 1978, the cap retreated by about six meters per year and has averaged over 60 meters per year lately, which is ten times faster. This Quelccya crisis is definitely not a local problem as these glaciers are an important source of water for the hydroelectric plants that generate about 70 percent of Peru’s power, and for Lima, a city of eight million people. The city already struggles to provide for the residents as about one in four Lima residents have no water service. These ice caps are very important in maintaining water flow during the dry season, where as they diminish in size from climate change, Lima falls into a wave of desperation for water like many other countries. With the ice caps and glaciers melting, there will soon be no water for Peruvians.
The third biggest problem in all of Peru after climate change and air pollution is deforestation, the permanent destruction of forests, as Peru aims for zero deforestation compared to the recent rates. The government understands that much of its forest is losing its sparkle, however claims that more than 80 percent of its primary forests can be saved or protected. Peru has the fourth largest area of tropical forests in the world after Brazil and the Democratic Republics of Congo and Indonesia, in which it has around 70 million hectares of tropical forest that covers nearly 60 percent of its territory. According to Global Forest Watch, an online monitoring system created through a partnership with the World Resources Institute, it is estimated that 58 percent of all land in Peru has greater than 75 percent forest cover, and 61 percent of the country has at least ten percent forest cover, summing up to approximately 76.8 million hectares of tree cover as of 2012. Of this forest, 89 percent is primary forestry, in which this makes Peru the ninth most forested country in the world, although it may no longer be true in another decade or so. As of 2005, the government figures for Amazonian deforestation suggest that approximately 150,000 hectares were cut down in Peru, although many other organizations would beg to differ and put the average figure in recent years much higher at around 250,000 hectares annually. From 2001 to 2012, Peru has supposedly lost over 241,000 hectares of forest, in which disturbingly, most of this loss of forestry was concentrated in areas that had greater than 75 percent of forest cover, meaning that even the most forested lands in Peru with its high biodiversity and species count, is also a land that faces the greatest threats of deforestation. According to EPI, causes of deforestation in Lima include small-holder agriculture that makes up 40 percent of the total causes of deforestation, cattle pasture as another 25 percent, large-scale agriculture as twenty percent, logging operations for ten percent, and the other causes making up the other five percent. However, specifically of the Peruvian Amazonian rain forest, one of the greatest sources of deforestation is that it is used for oil mining concessions since only twelve percent of the Peruvian Amazon is protected from such that does not overlap with the oil block. The worst threat that comes to the forest is indirect however, which is the installation of roads connecting to previously inaccessible areas that should not be accessible ever. Having said so, tropical deforestation causes about four to eighteen percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Although Peru contributes less than one percent of the world’s emissions, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), about half of all of Peru’s GHG emissions are due to deforestation which brings about climate change mitigations that are currently still in the hands of the United Nations (UN) to decide. As anyone can see, the factors of oil mining and road-making have severely damaged tropical rain forests in all of Peru that although may have not gone unnoticed by the United Nations, these issues still have yet to be solved.
Lima’s soil erosion has resulted from overgrazing on the slopes of the Coast and Sierra. Much of Peru is sensitive to the erosive action of wind and water because of its topography as the Coast is subjective to wind erosion while in the area of the Sierra is water erosion the main problem. However, erosion is also found in areas of the Selva, too. Erosion can be found to occur in the High Selva when vegetation is cleared. The High Selva is the name of the area of the fringe of mountains lying at the feet of the Andes and growing into the slopes of the mountains. Erosion can also be found in the Low Selva where there is high-intensity rains falling on the land farmed under slash-and-burn agricultural practices. The Low Selva is the name of the part of the Amazon tropical rain forest which extends to half the territory of Brazil. 46 of the nation’s mammal species and 64 of its bird species were endangered in 2001 as well while about 653 of its plant species were also endangered. Such endangered species include the yellow-tailed woolly monkey, black spider monkey, puna rhea, tundra peregrine falcon, white-winged guan, arrau, green sea turtle, hawksbill turtle, olive ridley turtle, leatherback turtle, spectacled caiman, black caiman, Onrinoco crocodile, and American crocodile. In conclusion, the coastal capital of Lima, Peru faces many environmental issues still waiting to be solved, varying from that of air pollution to deforestation, too.
Peru’s striking, metropolitan capital of Lima shockingly has been found to have the worst air pollution of all Latin American cities, according to a recent study in 2014 by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Meteorological Organization. According to the WHO report that analyzed 1,600 cities in 91 countries, only twelve percent of the world’s urban population actually breathes clean air. More importantly, however, the director of public health and the environment at WHO, Maria Neira, found that the situation of having clean air without any pollution has failed in almost all of the cities that were part of the study, especially in developing countries, according to daily Peru.21. The study looked at the level of fine particles, known as PM 2.5 which stands for particulate matter in chemistry, that are in the air and are harmful to human health, in which health experts measured air quality by qualifying air as clean if there are less than ten micrograms of fine particles per square meter. If there are any more than ten micrograms, the air is considered to be contaminated and harmful to any one person’s health. In the city of Lima, a coastal city of approximately nine million people nestled between the Andes Mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west, experts measured that the average level of micrograms was 38, according to the WHO. Besides the amount of micrograms per square meter, the World Health Organization also classifies clean air through the amount of atmospheric dust found within the air every month that people on average inhale. Approximately zero to fourteen tons per square kilometer of dust is the minimum amount, while the maximum level recommended by the WHO for safety is 5.2 tons per square kilometer per month. However, in some parts of Lima, like in San Juan de Lurigancho, those numbers can reach as high as eight times the recommended maximum levels. Also, according to the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES), a group of 48 economic and social research institutions in Peru, the high pollution rate has caused over 5,000 deaths between 2007 and 2011, in which approximately 80 percent of such was directly connected and caused by the air pollution from public transport. If it is not death as an effect of contaminated air in a person’s health, it is the destruction of one’s respiratory and cardiovascular systems or itchy, bubbly skin. Although the WHO report does also indicate that the pollution levels have improved in the city of Lima throughout the recent decade, it still shows that the levels are extremely high especially in the parts of the city in the northern cone of the metropolitan area. For example, according to the report, the most polluted parts of the city are in the northern cone region of Ventanilla, Puente Piedra, and San Martin de Porres, where the level of pollution reaches up to 58 micrograms, while in eastern Lima is the level 36 and in the south is it 29. Not only that, but in 2013, the National Institute of Statistics and Information (INEI), reported that the most polluted districts in Lima were Ate and El Agustino in the east, while other districts with severe air pollution included Villa Maria del Triunfo, Santa Anita, Jesus Maria, and also San Borja. According to Luis Tagle, the executive coordinator of the Clear Air Initiative committee for Lima, the principal causes of the city’s pollution are poor fuel quality and vehicles on the road that are active even when more than twenty years old. Specifically, experts say that the principal culprits for this are the taxis, private cars, buses, and trucks that are used to transport the city’s inhabitants. Tagle told La Republica, “Systems like the Metropolitano, which uses gas, or the Lima Metro [electric] have somewhat reduced pollution…but not entirely,” in which used vehicles can no longer be imported and the current government has succeeded in removing many of the older public transport vehicles from the road. Although these steps have been taken in ensuring less air pollution, there has also been a dramatic increase in the number of private vehicles, creating heavy traffic congestion, not only in the industrial and heavily populated areas, but also throughout the entire city of Lima. Therefore, air pollution is a major problem of Lima as the levels of pollution recognized to be safe for human health are way, way beneath the actual amounts that should not be found in Lima’s atmosphere.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Special Report on Emissions Scenarios and the Stern Review, Peru is placed as one of the countries that will be most affected by the effects of climate change. Although Peru is responsible for just 0.1 to 0.4 percent of the global carbon dioxide emissions among other greenhouse gases worldwide, it is one of the countries suffering the most from the impacts of climate change. Figures from the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios indicate that Peru will see the greatest temperature rises due to climate change as their figures predict a dry season average temperature increase of 0.7 degrees Celsius to possibly 1.8 degrees Celsius by 2020. The Stern Review also confirms that Peru is one of the world’s most climate vulnerable countries as expected in 2050 for there to be an increase of between one degree Celsius and four degrees Celsius. Besides such predictions, consequentially, Peru has already lost 39 percent of its tropical glaciers due to a 0.7 degree Celsius temperature rise in the Andes between 1939 and 2006. Even with such a report, it is noted that there will be a predicted temperature rise of up to six degrees Celsius in many parts of the Andes by the end of this century that will then lead to “harmful impacts on human development.” According to the United Kingdom’s Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, Peru was ranked third after Bangladesh and Honduras in climate hazard risks. Therefore, climate change and greenhouse gases are a major issue with temperature rises.
Speaking of temperature rises in response to climate change, Lima has been suffering from a water crisis because of the melting glaciers and ice caps. Since 1906, the Earth’s temperature has warmed about 0.74 degrees Celsius that is greatly impacting the high elevations where most glaciers are found and used as crucial water sources for millions of people. This could trigger a major water supply crisis. In the eastern Peruvian Andes, the Quelccya Ice Cap has for centuries been providing the surrounding farmlands with precious runoff water, but today, scientists confirm that the ice cap is shrinking at an increasing rate. During the fifteen years between 1963 and 1978, the cap retreated by about six meters per year and has averaged over 60 meters per year lately, which is ten times faster. This Quelccya crisis is definitely not a local problem as these glaciers are an important source of water for the hydroelectric plants that generate about 70 percent of Peru’s power, and for Lima, a city of eight million people. The city already struggles to provide for the residents as about one in four Lima residents have no water service. These ice caps are very important in maintaining water flow during the dry season, where as they diminish in size from climate change, Lima falls into a wave of desperation for water like many other countries. With the ice caps and glaciers melting, there will soon be no water for Peruvians.
The third biggest problem in all of Peru after climate change and air pollution is deforestation, the permanent destruction of forests, as Peru aims for zero deforestation compared to the recent rates. The government understands that much of its forest is losing its sparkle, however claims that more than 80 percent of its primary forests can be saved or protected. Peru has the fourth largest area of tropical forests in the world after Brazil and the Democratic Republics of Congo and Indonesia, in which it has around 70 million hectares of tropical forest that covers nearly 60 percent of its territory. According to Global Forest Watch, an online monitoring system created through a partnership with the World Resources Institute, it is estimated that 58 percent of all land in Peru has greater than 75 percent forest cover, and 61 percent of the country has at least ten percent forest cover, summing up to approximately 76.8 million hectares of tree cover as of 2012. Of this forest, 89 percent is primary forestry, in which this makes Peru the ninth most forested country in the world, although it may no longer be true in another decade or so. As of 2005, the government figures for Amazonian deforestation suggest that approximately 150,000 hectares were cut down in Peru, although many other organizations would beg to differ and put the average figure in recent years much higher at around 250,000 hectares annually. From 2001 to 2012, Peru has supposedly lost over 241,000 hectares of forest, in which disturbingly, most of this loss of forestry was concentrated in areas that had greater than 75 percent of forest cover, meaning that even the most forested lands in Peru with its high biodiversity and species count, is also a land that faces the greatest threats of deforestation. According to EPI, causes of deforestation in Lima include small-holder agriculture that makes up 40 percent of the total causes of deforestation, cattle pasture as another 25 percent, large-scale agriculture as twenty percent, logging operations for ten percent, and the other causes making up the other five percent. However, specifically of the Peruvian Amazonian rain forest, one of the greatest sources of deforestation is that it is used for oil mining concessions since only twelve percent of the Peruvian Amazon is protected from such that does not overlap with the oil block. The worst threat that comes to the forest is indirect however, which is the installation of roads connecting to previously inaccessible areas that should not be accessible ever. Having said so, tropical deforestation causes about four to eighteen percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Although Peru contributes less than one percent of the world’s emissions, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), about half of all of Peru’s GHG emissions are due to deforestation which brings about climate change mitigations that are currently still in the hands of the United Nations (UN) to decide. As anyone can see, the factors of oil mining and road-making have severely damaged tropical rain forests in all of Peru that although may have not gone unnoticed by the United Nations, these issues still have yet to be solved.
Lima’s soil erosion has resulted from overgrazing on the slopes of the Coast and Sierra. Much of Peru is sensitive to the erosive action of wind and water because of its topography as the Coast is subjective to wind erosion while in the area of the Sierra is water erosion the main problem. However, erosion is also found in areas of the Selva, too. Erosion can be found to occur in the High Selva when vegetation is cleared. The High Selva is the name of the area of the fringe of mountains lying at the feet of the Andes and growing into the slopes of the mountains. Erosion can also be found in the Low Selva where there is high-intensity rains falling on the land farmed under slash-and-burn agricultural practices. The Low Selva is the name of the part of the Amazon tropical rain forest which extends to half the territory of Brazil. 46 of the nation’s mammal species and 64 of its bird species were endangered in 2001 as well while about 653 of its plant species were also endangered. Such endangered species include the yellow-tailed woolly monkey, black spider monkey, puna rhea, tundra peregrine falcon, white-winged guan, arrau, green sea turtle, hawksbill turtle, olive ridley turtle, leatherback turtle, spectacled caiman, black caiman, Onrinoco crocodile, and American crocodile. In conclusion, the coastal capital of Lima, Peru faces many environmental issues still waiting to be solved, varying from that of air pollution to deforestation, too.