Peru - Final Report

Nov 21, 2015 by Allana Rumble

Policy Recommendations from Peru for Final Report

Introduction:

The Peruvian group developing these recommendations consists of ten students who attend an International School in Lima, Peru.  Although we all live in Lima we have connections to countries including; Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil, Panama, USA, Canada, France and South Korea. While some recommendations below are unique to Peru, many are readily translatable to other nations. For several months we have been meeting, learning, researching, collaborating to develop the suggestions you find below. We consider it an honour to be a part of this paper which is truly representative of youth voice from around the world.

Aid to Developing Countries:

Peru has an emerging economy. Putting a price on carbon and having more economically developed countries invest in the protection of the Amazon to be left in tact sequestering carbon reserves would provide financial incentive for the protection of these resources. Peru also needs assistance from other nations in controlling the trade of mercury and gold from the illegal gold mining trade (leading cause of deforestation in the Amazon) and for timber and products from illegal deforestation. Investment in the form of capital for renewable energy projects such as biofuel from algae, off-shore wind farms, and energy from waves would also be highly beneficial. Offering expertise in the form of trained engineers would also be of great benefit.

Adaptation and Resilience:

"Strengthening resilience through diversity management: The variety of climates, soils, biology and culture are some of the most important characteristics of Peruvian ecosystems. Embracing this diversity is a fundamental trait of development and planning efforts in Peru and entails a broach range of alternative approaches2. Reducing vulnerability: In view of the uncertainty created by climate change in Peru, reducing the potential risks of droughts, floods, desert encroachment, food insecurity and conflicts over the use of natural resources, by means of planned, concerted, participatory and comprehensive processes is an essential tool to reduce vulnerability.3. Building adaptive capacity: Developing the capacities of Andean highland communities withrespect to scientific and traditional climatic change indicators, technologies and social organisation is fundamental to successful climate change adaptation initiatives."From: http://www.preventionweb.net/files/13927_doc18005contenido.pdf

Energy:

Peru needs to implement a feed-in-tariff system to provide financial incentive to businesses and individuals to implement Solar PV grids across the nation. There is a need for independent reliable power sources throughout much of the nation and the solar radiation potential is high on average. Emphasis needs to be moved away from large scale hydro-electric dams which require damming Amazonian river tributaries, relocating indigenous people, loss of biodiversity, interruption of the natural water cycle and have major sustainability issues due to silting. Much of Peru's natural gas reserves lie under protected areas and a diversified renewable energy base moving away from fossil fuel extraction would be the more sustainable way forward. The Amazon Rainforest trees need to have more economical value left standing (with a price on carbon) than the oil and gas reserves they are standing on top of.

Agriculture:

Peru needs to continue to work actively in the protection of the biodiversity of it's food products. Continued cooperation with Andean indigenous groups and the International Potato Center in Lima will result in having a diversity of food options to respond in changes to local weather from climate change. Projects encouraging the removal of primary rainforest for the planting of monocultures of palm oil should not move forward. Peru needs to examine the balance between the water needs for export oriented agriculture in comparison to the sustainable production of indigenous plants and grains such as quinoa. Government intervention to ensure fair trade and equitable pricing for Peruvian farmers, especially for indigenous grains such as quinoa should be implemented. Biotechnology and food laws which limit the reach of multi-national seed corporations who seek to limit biodiversity in food crops should be renewed in their current, stringent, format. The Ministry of Health should seek to promote a diet with less emphasis on meat consumption in light of the recent WHO publication on health impacts of processed and red meat consumption and the known contributions livestock production makes to climate change.

Oceans and Water:

Peru is again this year facing a strong El Niño event which is greatly impacting the anchovy fish catch. Peru is the largest fish-meal producer in the world (fish meal is produced from anchovies). El Niño weather events (made less predictable and more intense via climate change) move cold water currents further away from the coast and the anchovies move with the current. The government needs to enforce significantly more conservative limits for sustainable catch of this important resource. Economically and environmentally speaking it would also be significantly more efficient to consider what the anchovy fish catch is used for. Anchovies are a highly nutritious food source and could be eaten directly by humans. Using this limited catch to create fish meal which is used as a protein source to feed to livestock or within fish farms is a less sustainable and efficient process. Peru, having one of the largest remaining fisheries in the world, would greatly benefit from the creation of several large and connected marine conservation areas. These conservation areas when implemented in other nations of the world have shown to provide opportunities and sustainable economic benefit through eco-tourism and have resulted in increases in local fish stocks.With regard to water Peru has two major issues of both water quality and water access. The government needs to consider the limited water supply and should apply the externalities associated with water use in increasing the cost (and therefore value) of this very limited resource. Industry contaminating water supply (especially mining) need to be appropriately, regulated and fined for their misuse of this shared resource. The government should be encouraging conservative practice through taxation and the Ministry of Education should be working to mandate climate change education and water conservation practices. To ensure water access in the long term Peru must be a leader in climate action. Currently Peru has lost 40% of the tropical glaciers that are the primary water supply for over 90% of it's population. The rapid decrease in tropical glacier volume will increase as climate change increases.

Land Forest and Management:

Ecotourism is one of the most rapidly growing industries within Peru. Peru needs to invest significantly greater resources into the protection of its national parks. Currently a system exists where a dozen rangers may have millions of acres of land to regulate. These rangers often live in remote areas, and have little protection from illegal oil, logging and gold mining. The ranger workforce needs to be expanded and investment made into helicopter, boat and satellite access in managing these invaluable areas. Cooperation with the armed forces specialized in some of this remote terrain should increase. The government needs to actively work to decrease corruption with strict fines and penalties for those found guilty. Diversification of the economy and increased access to education for those in remote regions needs to be increased. Indigenous groups need to become informed allies to government for the protection of these areas. See above for the need for putting a price on carbon to provide financial incentive for protection of these regions. Alternative fuel sources other than trees for fuel need to be implemented to prevent deforestation in Andean regions. This would also help mitigate the number of deaths and illnesses caused from inhalation of wood smoke over prolonged periods of time.

Conclusion:

The recommendations above can be acted upon at the personal, local, national and international level. Evidence of the action we have conducted as a community may be summarized here.

• Development of a delegation of International and Peruvian Students to attend COP 21 from Dec 3rd - Dec 11th as a Voice Representing International Youth on Climate Change. 
• To bring Youth Voice and active youth participation to the most important meeting on the planet. Students in the Peruvian COP 21 delegation will present the Peruvian Case Study of a country already experiencing the impacts of climate change and come with a story of hope in a solution driven view of how to move forward.  The presentation is called, "Climate Change in Peru: Informed and Empowered".  We are scheduled to present at the Marymount International School of Paris Global Issues Network Conference and the International School of Paris COP 21 Day of Action.  Our objective is Increased awareness of the issues and existing solutions for climate change. Increased representation of Youth in the conversation of climate change. Increased connectivity and collaborative possibility from motivated youth on the issue of climate change.
  
• In developing our action we have collaborated with the following groups; Taking It Global: Decarbonize Project, Climate Reality, Amazon Aid Foundation, WindAid, Jared P. Scott (Filmmaker), School for Environmental Studies (Minnesota, USA), and the Global Issues Network (GIN).

Evidence of our commitment to environmental action with respect to Climate Change may be summarized in the following media.

• Women in the Green Economy - Zayed Future Energy Prize
• Recognition from the Green Schools Alliance as a Featured Green School
  
• Colegio Roosevelt hosts Student Leadership Climate Conference - CLima prior to COP 20
  
• Colegio Roosevelt delivers petitions to Christiana Figueres (Executive Director of the UNFCCC) during COP 20 for Protection of the Peruvian Amazon, and a petition to Ban Ki-Moon on behalf of the children of the world in a plea for clean energy.

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