Climate Sense

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Research, implementation and use of

climate information in mountainous regions:

a collaboration between Switzerland and Peru

C. Huggel, N. Salzmann, L. Angulo, P. Calanca, A. Díaz, H. Juárez, C. Jurt,

T. Konzelmann, P. Lagos, A. Martínez, C. Robledo, M. Rohrer, W. Silverio, M. Zappa

ragile ecosystems, rapidly retreating glaciers, threatened

water resources, extreme events and disasters in harsh envi-

ronments, as well as demanding livelihood conditions make

mountain regions particularly vulnerable to ongoing climate change.

For many developing countries adequate response and short- to

long-term adaptation strategies to climate change will be the big

challenges over the coming decades. However, overcoming these

challenges will also be fundamental to the future existence of many

societies in mountain regions. The Andes in Peru is expected to

be seriously affected by climate change.

The Swiss and Peruvian

governments have therefore joined forces – through the Swiss Agency

for Development and Cooperation and the Ministry of Environment,

respectively – to improve the scientific baseline for climate change

adaptation, and to implement an adaptation programme in the

Cusco and Apurímac regions of the Peruvian Andes. The Programa

de Adaptación al Cambio Climático (PACC) was initiated in 2008

and is implemented by a non-governmental organization consortium

including Intercooperation, Predes and Libélula. The programme is

also supported by Peruvian and Swiss scientific institutions. The

Swiss consortium is led by the University of Zurich and includes:

Meteoswiss; Meteodat; Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon ART; the

Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research

WSL-SLF; and the University of Geneva.

The PACC focuses on three major thematic lines: disaster risk reduction;

water resource management; and food security. This allows for an impor-

tant integrative research approach across several sectors.

Climate change impacts and adaptation is highly complex,

both on a scientific and implementation level. The main

reason for this is that impacts affect different ecological serv-

ices and socioeconomic systems, vary in related feedback

effects, and occur in a multi-actor environment through

different levels of social and political systems. International

collaboration is needed to address these key problems. The

Peruvian-Swiss collaboration aims to improve the baselines

of expected climate change impacts on the regional and local

level, in order to enable better planning and implementation

of effective and socially consistent adaptation measures.

Observed and projected climate impacts in the Andes

Cusco and Apurímac are Andean regions in the south of

Peru between approximately 3,000 and more than 4,000

metres above sea level, with mountain peaks rising over

6,000 metres above sea level. The combined population

of both regions is around 1.5 million, with about 40 per

cent suffering from malnutrition and over 75 per cent are

without basic needs. Poverty-related problems are particu-

larly pronounced in rural areas. As a consequence, there is

limited adaptive capacity to the adverse effects of climate

change.

The Andean regions of Peru have two distinct

seasons, a rainy period in austral summer and a dry period

in austral winter. During the dry season, many of these

regions rely on glaciers as a primary water resource. As

such, indigenous rural people are observing the glacier

retreat of the past decades with increasing concern.

However, glacier retreat and changing water resources

is not the only evidence of climate change impacts in the

region. The picture is far more complex. Extreme climatic

events such as coldwaves have been observed to strikemore

severely in recent years. The rural population, in particu-

lar, is badly affected by loss of crops and cattle caused by

cold waves and droughts. Drought intensities range from

moderate to severe for time periods of 1, 3 and 12 months,

especially in the south Andean regions of Peru.

In addition

to slow-onset climatic disasters, the magnitude and recur-

rence of rapid geomorphic hazards, such as landslides, may

be altered due to climate change.

Past and present climate trends, as well as future

projections, are not understood in sufficient detail for

bserving

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Ground stations in the Andes are often maintained by local people

Image: M. Rohrer