Dishonouring Pachamama: Climate Change In South America

More extracts from John Vidal's Guardian article about climate change in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador...

Ecuador has nearly lost one third of its ice.

Lake Titicaca had twice shrunk 85 per cent following temperatures only 2-3 degrees C higher than now.

The cost of climate change to Bolivia, South America's poorest country, could be over 7 per cent of its GDP by 2025 - almost as much as the country's combined spending on health and education.

In Huayhuasi, Peru, llama and alpaca farmers have been badly hit by recurring water shortages. 'The rains used to be from October to April. Now it rains for two to three months if we are lucky. This year we had deep frosts where the temperature dropped to -17 degrees C. Many people died in the province', says Elias Pacco.

'The sick Pachamama (Mother Nature) is losing her vital liquid - water,' says Marlon Santi, the president of the Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, the 10-million strong group of indigenous peoples. 'Our brothers and sisters used to know when to sow and harvest. We have unusual droughts and floods and frosts and strange illnesses. We have pests, frosts, worms and new plagues.'

'In the old days there was snow on all the mountains, but for 10 years now there has been none. We do not know when to plant,' says farmer Julio Hermandez from Panta Leon, near Cusco, Peru. 'People are leaving to go to the cities because they can no longer grow crops or keep animals. Perhaps this is a punishment. In the past we used to honour Mother Earth more. It was a happier place then. The mountains looked like they had a white scarf around their necks. We are older now; we saw the snow-capped mountains. What will our children see?'

Warming Up

There's been a lot of talk recently in blogs and in the media about the weird weather we're having at the moment. But, whatever the immediate, complex reasons for this unpredictable pattern of  meteorological extremes, one thing is blindingly clear: the world is warming up. And it's warming up faster than we think.

John Vidal, the Guardian's environmental editor, travelled last month with Oxfam through the Andean mountains of Peru and Ecuador. He found retreating glaciers, shrinking rivers, expanding deserts and rampaging diseases. And, as usual, it's the poor who suffer first and worst.

He writes: Climate change has fallen off the political agenda in rich countries since the shambles of the Copenhagen summit last year, and the headlines have been dominated by global recession. But while politicians fail to act, the phenomenon continues unabated. In the past week, the three major institutes that calculate global warming have said 2010 will at least tie for the hottest year yet recorded, and it is widely expected that global carbon dioxide emissions will hit record levels.

This year summer temperatures in Russia and central Asia were 7.8 degrees C above average for a whole month, the Pakistan floods affected more than 20 million people, and temperature records were set in 17 countries from Finland to Iraq, Burma and Columbia. Again, there was a near-record melting of Arctic sea ice and the UN has recorded more than 700 extreme-weather related disasters.

Yet most of the world has never heard the phrase 'climate change' and does not understand the science behind man-induced climate change. Hundreds of millions of people are having to adapt without help to the major changes which they can see are taking place, and for which they are not responsible.

We're now in the middle of the latest round of climate change talks in Cancún, Mexico. 193 governments are taking part. Half-way through - and only 170 words out of a 1300 word key text remain undisputed. Will there be more progress than in Copenhagen last year? Don't hold your breath.