Peru: A government strategy to combat desertification

Photo credit: AS/COA

Deforestation in Peru. (Image: Regional Environmental Information System)

Lima 2014 Blog: Peru’s Melting Glaciers, Desertification, and Deforestation

by Elizabeth Gonzalez

EXCERPT

Desertification

Desertification is another consequence of climate change accentuated by Peru’s distribution of natural resources per its population. The process by which soil is degraded until it’s irreparable affects 83 percent of the country’s population, which is concentrated in the 40 percent of lands classified as desert or dryland. Though precipitation is low in these zones, the land can sustain some agriculture. However, climate variations and human activities, like over-cultivation, drain the soil’s fertility. By 2050, the World Bank projects the northern, central, and southern part of the country will see a 10-, 19-, and 14-percentdrop in precipitation respectively. Consequently, more people will likely migrate to the Amazon region where freshwater is abundant, augmenting soil decay.

Deforestation

Peru’s forests span 283,012 square miles (733,000 square kilometers), making it the second-most forested country in South America, and ninth worldwide. Between 2000 and 2010, Peru lost approximately 425 square miles (1,100 square kilometers) of forest a year. The Ministry of the Environment (MINAM) says small-scale farmers drive 75 percent of deforestation, as they are unaware that misusing the soil alters the carbon stock of the land. Forests are Peru’s principal agent in absorbing greenhouse gases, and the change of land use inversely releases more greenhouse gases than all other emission sources. In 2013, it constituted 41 percent of the country’s total carbon dioxide emissions.

Indirect factors, such as migration to the Amazon and a lacking governmental presence, are also contributing to deforestation.

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Originally published at desertification.wordpress.com on February 9, 2015.