90 Quelccaya Ice-Cap · Peru

.We have selected 100 unique places on Earth that are projected to
undergo profound changes within the next few generations.


We based our selection of the 100 places on the 4th Assessment
Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Simply by drawing attention to the beauty of these places, 100 Places to
Remember Before they Disappear creates an argument to preserve
them.

The 100 Places we have chosen to highlight, and the people who
live in them, are in serious danger because of rising sea levels, rising
temperatures and extreme weather events triggered by climate change.

Among ambassadors are Joss Stone, Desmund Tutu for more info visit http://www.100places.com - Quelccaya Ice-Cap · Peru

Dwindling Ice
at the Top of the Andes

The Quelccaya Ice-Cap is an awe-inspiring sight, with its massive ice fields and blue-white glaciers. Spanning 44 square kilometres in the Cordillera Oriental Mountain Range in southern Peru, it is the largest body of ice in the tropics.

The ice has claimed these Andean peaks and fed the streams and rivers below for thousands of years. The vast quantities of ice have provided scientists with data about precipitation and temperatures going back 1,500 years, enabling them to calculate annual snowfall since the time of the early Andean civilisations.

Glacial runoff from the Quelccaya Ice-Cap is vital for much of the Peruvian population. Farmers use it for irrigation and dams, and hydroelectricity plants supply drinking water and power to major cities such as Cuzco and Lima.

An estimated two million people out of the capitals population of almost nine million have no access to free and fresh water. They are forced to pay high prices for it and will be the first to feel the effects of shortages.

The Quelccaya ice-cap is no longer an inexhaustible resource. Since 1978, it has lost 20% of its area, and the rate of the decrease is accelerating. The once steady flow of water is now intermittent, and within 30-50 years the Quelccaya ice cap is expected to have disappeared as a consequence of global warming, leaving millions of Peruvians without a reliable source of water and the Andean peaks without cover.

Lima, 15 km from the Pacific coast, is the second largest desert city in the world after Cairo in Egypt. On the outskirts of Lima, shanty towns stretch far along the plains, eventually climbing the barren mountainsides. Many impoverished inhabitants of the mountain regions, mainly indigenous Aymara and Quechua people, move to the coastal cities in search of better lives.
When a shanty town house is first built, it is fashioned from bamboo mats, which are eventually replaced by wood and corrugated iron. Depending on the fortunes of the family, the wooden house may one day be converted into bricks and mortar.

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[wolfcrapshit]

Stupid humans, we cause that, i hope everysingle person die, who want to destroy de forest! lol they are twank and dickers! Stupid Argg

[samsonthegreat87]

This guy can not say glacier