Peru Climate Change and Disaster Risks
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Peru Climate Location
Peru shares borders with Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia, and Chile, and is located in the heart of South America. It covers 1,285,215.6 km2 in total. The coast, a short desert strip that runs along to the Pacific Ocean, covers 11.7 percent of the area and is home to 54.6 percent of the anticipated 33 million inhabitants (2020). Peru’s population is relatively young, with more than half of the population under the age of 30.
The massive Andean cordillera divides Peru’s surface into three natural regions: the Costa (arid coastal plains, home to approximately 55 percent of the population), the Sierra (highlands, home to 32 percent of the population), and the Selva (the lush Amazon rainforest, home to 13 percent of the population) to the east. The Humboldt (ocean) Current, the country’s latitude, mountain ranges, extreme topographic variations, and the Humboldt (ocean) Current all combine to create dramatically varied climate zones.
Peru is prone to natural disasters due to its geographic diversity, as it has seven of the nine qualities that make a country sensitive to natural disasters: earthquakes, flash flooding, landslides, and volcanic activity, to name a few. Peru is particularly sensitive to the effects of climate change, particularly natural disasters such as earthquakes, flash flooding, landslides, and volcanic activity, to name a few, because the bulk of the country’s population lives along the shore.
Peru Climate Background
The Andean mountain range, which runs north-south and divides Peru into three climatic regions: the coast, the Andean Highlands, and the Eastern lowlands and Amazon rainforest, is a diversified country. With an average annual rainfall of 150 mm, the Coast has a semi-arid, subtropical desert environment. Temperatures in the southern and central coasts range from 13 to 26 degrees Celsius, with the coldest months being May and October. The climate in the north is more semi-tropical, with average temperatures of 24 degrees Celsius.
The climate in the Andean highlands varies according to elevation; a rainy season runs from September to March (though it might start as late as December) and a dry, chilly season runs from May to August. Temperatures range from 11 to 18 degrees Celsius, with annual rainfall ranging from 50 to 1000 millimeters, with dryer circumstances in the southwest and wetter conditions in the east. Frosts are common in the northern Andes, while droughts are common in the southern Andes.
The climate in the Eastern lowlands and Amazon rainforest is tropical, with high temperatures and rainfall all year. Average temperatures in the Andes range from 22°C to 31°C in the Amazon, with annual rainfall ranging from 1,000–3,000 mm.
Temperature
Peru’s average temperature has risen by 1 degree Celsius since the 1960s, although the number of cold days and nights has reduced and the number of warm days and nights has increased.
Precipitation
Peru has seen an increase in precipitation along the coast and in the northern mountains during the 1960s, as well as an increase in the severity and frequency of rainfall events.
Rainfall in the northern rainforests has reduced, as has the intensity and frequency of rainfall events in the central highlands.
Droughts and dry spells are more common in the central and southern highlands and rainforest. Since the 1970s, the number of severe rainstorms, mudslides, and forest fires has more than doubled, and floods have increased by 60%.
Peru Climate Change and Risks, Vulnerability
The combination of climate-related hazards (including hazardous occurrences and trends), community vulnerability (susceptibility to harm and lack of capacity to adapt), and human and natural system exposure is used to assess overall risks from climate-related consequences. Hazards, exposure, and susceptibility are driven by changes in the climatic system and socioeconomic activities, including adaptation and mitigation actions.
Peru Climate Change and Risks Video
Peru Climate Change Disaster Impacts
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Peru Climate Change and Agriculture Disaster Impacts
Changes in temperature and precipitation have an impact on agricultural production in the highlands and along the coast. In the Andean area, 64 percent of farmers use subsistence, rainfed farming methods to raise traditional crops like potatoes, quinoa, and maize. Pests such as the Andean potato weevil have been introduced as a result of rising temperatures. Farmers have responded by cultivating at higher elevations during the last 30 years, exposing crops to shorter growing seasons and more snowstorms, floods, and droughts.
Peru Climate Change Disaster Impacts Video
Increased water scarcity, drought, and salinization are threatening agriculture along the coast, which comprises on intensively produced export crops. Pastoralism is mostly practiced in mountain and high-elevation jungle environments, and it is a vital source of food and revenue for rural populations. Climate variability, which limits feed and water resources and increases agriculture production into high-altitude areas, threatens animal production, which is already hampered by low productivity.
Peru Climate Change and Hydrological/Water Disaster impacts
Peru is home to 71 percent of the world’s tropical glaciers, which provide water to the country’s (mostly rural) residents. However, glacial volume has decreased by 40% since 1970, lowering freshwater availability in water-scarce coastal areas. Glaciers are crucial to the Andes’ hydrology because they store water during the rainy season and release it throughout the year. In the Santa River, for example, glaciers produce 80% of river flows during the dry season (compared to 4–8% during the wet season).
When rising temperatures hasten glacier retreat, however, too much water is released during the rainy season (producing flooding) and insufficient water is released during the dry season (causing drought) (limiting water availability for irrigation and consumption). Energy production is threatened by altering hydrological dynamics, as hydropower from the CaondelPato, Mantaro, and Urubamba river basins, which are all fed to some extent by retreating glaciers, now provide 52 percent of the country’s energy.
Peru Climate Change and Coastal Disaster Impacts
The warming of the earth is directly causing global mean sea level to rise in two ways: mountain glaciers and polar ice sheets are melting and contributing water to the ocean, and the warmth of the ocean water causes expansion and therefore greater volume. Since 1880, the global mean sea level has risen roughly 210–240 millimeters (mm), with about a third of it occurring in the previous two and a half decades. The annual growth is currently around 3mm each year.
Natural variability in area winds and ocean currents causes regional fluctuations, which can last for days, months, or even decades. However, additional factors such as ground uplift (e.g., ongoing rebound from Ice Age glacier weight), changes in water tables owing to water extraction or other water management, and even the effects of local erosion can all play a role locally.
Rising sea levels put a strain on both the physical coastline and coastal ecosystems. Freshwater aquifers, which support municipal and agricultural water supplies as well as natural ecosystems, can be contaminated by saltwater incursions. Because there is a significant lag between attaining equilibrium and global temperatures continuing to rise, sea level will continue to rise for a long time. The magnitude of the rise will be heavily influenced by future carbon dioxide emissions and global warming, and the speed of the rise may be progressively influenced by glacier and ice sheet melting.
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