Andean countries gather to formulate the region’s response to climate change

EFE News Agency
Lima, October 5, 2007

The aim of the Latin Climate Meeting to be held in Guayaquil and Quito (Ecuador) as of this coming October 15 is, according to Freddy Ehlers, Secretary General of the Andean Community, to consider Latin America’s response to the problem of climate change.

This will be “the first major international meeting to be held on climate change in Latin America in which civil society, government officials and global institutions will gather to examine the current climate situation and determine what Latin America’s response should be to the problems it creates,” Ehlers emphasized. 

According to the CAN Secretary General, the threat posed by climate change is particularly important for the Andean region because Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia are the “world’s most vulnerable countries” to possible disasters caused by a change in climate.

In Ehlers’ opinion, the Andean countries’ most urgent problem is the disappearance of its glaciers, which could occur in “25 or 30 years’ time,” and would have a “devastating effect on the supply of fresh water in cities like La Paz, Lima, Quito or Cuenca".

He emphasized, in this connection, that the common policy of the Andean countries should be aimed at “a renegotiation with the rich countries” of the effects of climate change.  

"The Andean countries contain 25 percent of the global water supply, which the whole world needs to safeguard.  For that reason, international plans for contributing to its preservation need to be far broader than what has been done to date,” Ehlers emphasized. 

The CAN Secretary General pointed out that international plans to support the region should be aimed at shaping a common policy to protect fresh water and biodiversity that will allow for “harmonious growth based on technology transfer."

The droughts, fires, resumption of the El Niño phenomenon, flooding and frost seen over this past year in jungle areas are, in Ehlers’ opinion, “just a small sample of how climate change is affecting the Andean Community today.”