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The history of domination in Latin America. MONROE: Let's reformulate!
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SPECIAL REPORTS
Special REPORTS
The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) judged multinational corporations for human rights violation in Colombia
More...
The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) judged multinational corporations for human rights violation in Colombia
More...
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Andean Glaciers Will Be
Gone in a Few Years
Gone in a Few Years
Only in Peru, all glaciers below 5,500 meters high will be extinguished by the year 2015, and the Venezuelan snow-capped mountains only have about 13 years left.
07/15/09
By Enrique Quispez Herrera/ Seinforma Canada Correspondent
Lima.- The 26,500 square kilometers of Latin American glaciers have receded in recent years at an alarming way. For many this is just a distant problem that has nothing to do with their daily lives filled with stress, smog and lack of time to look around, but this has more to do with us as human beings than the same environmental problem itself.
Latin American countries share many things, and most of them share a spine called the Andes mountain range. This is a mountain chain that has the highest peaks of the continent and the highest amounts of snow that are part of the natural reserve of fresh water on the planet. The ice coverage is distributed by country as follows: Peru 80%, Bolivia 10%, Ecuador 2%, while Colombia and Venezuela share a 3%.
Experts agree that 50 years ago these glaciers have been losing kilometers in length, but perhaps the past decade was the warmest compared to previous years.
List of most vulnerable countries
Peru
One of the most emblematic snowcapped mountain of Peru is the Pastoruri snowcapped mountain in Ancash department located at the north of Lima. It has fallen into oblivion due to a lower tourism activity in the area and also because of climate change. This snowcapped mountain tends to disappear each year hopelessly. This mountain is just a sign of the fate of glaciers in Peru. According to specialists who are constantly performing studies on the behavior of glaciers in Peru, by 2015 all the glaciers below 5500 meters are going to disappear.
Ecuador
In Ecuador, the situation is similar. The glacier land has fallen 35% which is almost 70 square kilometers. The snowcapped volcano Cotopaxi is a clear example of this. Located in the Cordillera Real, in the plains Limpiopungo 35 km northeast of Latacunga, 40 km southeast of Quito and Antisana located within the boundaries of the province of Pichincha and Napo, in the Cordillera Real at a distance of 50 kilometers southeast of Quito, both snowcapped mountains are an evidence of a chilling reality of the mountains in that country.
Chile
In Chile, the situation is not quite different, most glaciers are retreating dangerously and considering that 80% of fresh water of this country comes from them, the government implemented in 9th April 2009 "The National Glaciers Policy" through the Council of National Environmental Commission. At the same time the Toronto based company Barrick Gold has received the green light to implement the the first bi-national mining project Pascua-Lama, which involves Chile and Argentina. It is an open pit gold mining project located at 4000 meters of altitude in the border area. In Chile, it is located at the Atacama region, specifically in the Province of Huasco, while in Argentina it is located at the province of San Juan. Therefore the protests in both countries keep going since 2001 when this project was approved.
For further information visit: <http://www.seinforma.ca/pascualamaeng.html>
Venezuela
In Venezuela the mountain most affected by this process is called Pico Bolívar, the highest in the country with 4980 meters above sea level. It is located in the Venezuelan Andes, in the state of Merida, about 650 kilometers southwest of the capital Caracas. The president of the Institute for Scientific Research Angel Viloria, said the glaciers in Venezuela suffered "a melting of 70% in the last 30 years," according to the Caracas daily 'News', ie has been disappearing at a rate of nine meters per year and if we rely on that calculation the mountains from Venezuela only have 13 years of life remaining, a death sentence without reversing.
Argentina
Meanwhile, across South America, Argentina faced an inescapable reality of its glaciers which are losing about 41.9 cubic kilometers of ice each year. This represents an amount of ice sufficient to raise sea levels around the world in about 0.11 millimeters said U.S. scientist Eric Rignot who after analyzing satellite photos from NASA and consistent measurements of glaciers in Patagonia Argentina, came to this frightening conclusion.
Bolivia
Global warming in Bolivia has led to the progressive disappearance of the Chacaltaya glacier, which will result in the disruption of water in the cities of La Paz and El Alto during dry seasons in the future.
The annual regression of the Chacaltaya glacier, located only 56 kilometers far from the Bolivian capital, went on from 0,6 m of water between 1963 and 1983, to 1,2 m between 1983 and 2003. The specialists predict that, to this rhythm of deglaciation, the peak will disappear completely by the year 2015.
By Enrique Quispez Herrera/ Seinforma Canada Correspondent
Lima.- The 26,500 square kilometers of Latin American glaciers have receded in recent years at an alarming way. For many this is just a distant problem that has nothing to do with their daily lives filled with stress, smog and lack of time to look around, but this has more to do with us as human beings than the same environmental problem itself.
Latin American countries share many things, and most of them share a spine called the Andes mountain range. This is a mountain chain that has the highest peaks of the continent and the highest amounts of snow that are part of the natural reserve of fresh water on the planet. The ice coverage is distributed by country as follows: Peru 80%, Bolivia 10%, Ecuador 2%, while Colombia and Venezuela share a 3%.
Experts agree that 50 years ago these glaciers have been losing kilometers in length, but perhaps the past decade was the warmest compared to previous years.
List of most vulnerable countries
Peru
One of the most emblematic snowcapped mountain of Peru is the Pastoruri snowcapped mountain in Ancash department located at the north of Lima. It has fallen into oblivion due to a lower tourism activity in the area and also because of climate change. This snowcapped mountain tends to disappear each year hopelessly. This mountain is just a sign of the fate of glaciers in Peru. According to specialists who are constantly performing studies on the behavior of glaciers in Peru, by 2015 all the glaciers below 5500 meters are going to disappear.
Ecuador
In Ecuador, the situation is similar. The glacier land has fallen 35% which is almost 70 square kilometers. The snowcapped volcano Cotopaxi is a clear example of this. Located in the Cordillera Real, in the plains Limpiopungo 35 km northeast of Latacunga, 40 km southeast of Quito and Antisana located within the boundaries of the province of Pichincha and Napo, in the Cordillera Real at a distance of 50 kilometers southeast of Quito, both snowcapped mountains are an evidence of a chilling reality of the mountains in that country.
Chile
In Chile, the situation is not quite different, most glaciers are retreating dangerously and considering that 80% of fresh water of this country comes from them, the government implemented in 9th April 2009 "The National Glaciers Policy" through the Council of National Environmental Commission. At the same time the Toronto based company Barrick Gold has received the green light to implement the the first bi-national mining project Pascua-Lama, which involves Chile and Argentina. It is an open pit gold mining project located at 4000 meters of altitude in the border area. In Chile, it is located at the Atacama region, specifically in the Province of Huasco, while in Argentina it is located at the province of San Juan. Therefore the protests in both countries keep going since 2001 when this project was approved.
For further information visit: <http://www.seinforma.ca/pascualamaeng.html>
Venezuela
In Venezuela the mountain most affected by this process is called Pico Bolívar, the highest in the country with 4980 meters above sea level. It is located in the Venezuelan Andes, in the state of Merida, about 650 kilometers southwest of the capital Caracas. The president of the Institute for Scientific Research Angel Viloria, said the glaciers in Venezuela suffered "a melting of 70% in the last 30 years," according to the Caracas daily 'News', ie has been disappearing at a rate of nine meters per year and if we rely on that calculation the mountains from Venezuela only have 13 years of life remaining, a death sentence without reversing.
Argentina
Meanwhile, across South America, Argentina faced an inescapable reality of its glaciers which are losing about 41.9 cubic kilometers of ice each year. This represents an amount of ice sufficient to raise sea levels around the world in about 0.11 millimeters said U.S. scientist Eric Rignot who after analyzing satellite photos from NASA and consistent measurements of glaciers in Patagonia Argentina, came to this frightening conclusion.
Bolivia
Global warming in Bolivia has led to the progressive disappearance of the Chacaltaya glacier, which will result in the disruption of water in the cities of La Paz and El Alto during dry seasons in the future.
The annual regression of the Chacaltaya glacier, located only 56 kilometers far from the Bolivian capital, went on from 0,6 m of water between 1963 and 1983, to 1,2 m between 1983 and 2003. The specialists predict that, to this rhythm of deglaciation, the peak will disappear completely by the year 2015.
***
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Legalizing Terror:
The Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement
Watch the discussion of what's involved in the agreement, its impact on the people of Colombia and organizing against it.
Disponible sólo en ingles
The Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement
Watch the discussion of what's involved in the agreement, its impact on the people of Colombia and organizing against it.
Disponible sólo en ingles
Multimedia
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Satellite view of the Andes. During the last 50 years its glaciers have been losing an alarming extension in square kilometers. Last decade was perhaps the warmest compared to previous periods of time. ( Photo www.astronomia.com/ Seinforma)
SPECIAL SERIES
MIGRATIONS
Migrations: Routes, Dreams and Reality
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DUE TO GLOBAL WARMING
Lagoon of the Otún, in Colombia, located over 4000 meters high in the National Park of the Snow-capped mountains, and distant 5 kilometers from the point of monitoring of the Andean Colombian glaciers. 28% of the area of lagoons has disappeared in this region during the last half century. (Photos Alvaro Gomez/Seinforma)
"Immigrants in Europe live in
lowest level of society”
lowest level of society”
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Colombia
According to an analysis of the glacier dynamics associated with the climatic global change, made in 2002 by the meteorologist Christian Felipe Uscátegui, Colombia had 348.9 square kilometers of zones of ice in 1850, and until seven years ago only 63.7 square km still remained, that is to say, 18.25 % of them.
The study based in information of the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM), alerts on the disappearance, in the western slope of the mountain range of the Colombian Andes, of 28% of the area of lagoons during the last 50 years. It affirms also that the glacier Santa Isabel, located in the same zone as the snow-capped mountains Tolima and Ruiz, will disappear in approximately 28 years.
It is predicted that the Cocuy snow-capped mountain range - the most extensive of the country - and the Santa Marta one, will be gone by the year 2050, according to a report of the IDEAM named The Colombian glaciers: expression of the climatic global change
According to an analysis of the glacier dynamics associated with the climatic global change, made in 2002 by the meteorologist Christian Felipe Uscátegui, Colombia had 348.9 square kilometers of zones of ice in 1850, and until seven years ago only 63.7 square km still remained, that is to say, 18.25 % of them.
The study based in information of the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM), alerts on the disappearance, in the western slope of the mountain range of the Colombian Andes, of 28% of the area of lagoons during the last 50 years. It affirms also that the glacier Santa Isabel, located in the same zone as the snow-capped mountains Tolima and Ruiz, will disappear in approximately 28 years.
It is predicted that the Cocuy snow-capped mountain range - the most extensive of the country - and the Santa Marta one, will be gone by the year 2050, according to a report of the IDEAM named The Colombian glaciers: expression of the climatic global change