Global warming will melt Andes glaciers

Glaciers in the Andes mountain range are melting so fast that they could completely disappear by 2015, causing widespread devastation in the surrounding regions.

‘Climate Change Knows No Borders’, a report prepared for the Andean nations by Carlos Amat y León, Peru’s former agricultural minister, warns that temperatures in the Andes are rising at a rate of 0.34 degrees per decade, 70% faster than the global average.

If glaciers continue to melt at current rates, the cost to countries in the region will reach US$30 billion per year by 2025.

The report predicts that the loss of glaciers in the Andes would result in a stronger and more frequent El Nino effect, leading to higher ocean temperatures along the Peruvian coastline that would cause increased droughts and flooding in the region.

Water supply would also be disrupted, leaving 40 million without water for drinking or farming.

This would have a knock-on effect on energy - over 70% of the region’s electricity supply is created using renewable hydroenergy.

It is a cruel irony that such an environmentally progressive region with one of the highest rates of renewable energy production in the world should be the one of the first to have to face up to the consequences of climate change.

Ecuador was the first country in the world to ratify the climate change convention in 1993.

However, it is feared that if the region loses its hydroenergy source, there will be a lack of political will to trial other renewable sources, increasing the use of fossil fuels.