Fishing and agriculture are the most affected by climate change

Peru is one of the most vulnerable countries to the impacts of climate change on fisheries and agriculture sectors, said yesterday the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Nobel Peace Prize 2007, Rajendra K. Pachauri.

"Due to global warming, the fish will move to other areas. That will create social problems in the population that has developed in a certain part of the coast "He said in his lecture as part of the international workshop for journalists prior to COP20, organized by the environment ministry (Minam).

He also said that climate change may increase plant diseases; especially in a very vital for Peruvian culture, such as the potato.

"We must learn to adapt and mitigate the changes that are already taking place unfortunately and continue taking it for many years due to the concentration of greenhouse gases", afirmó Pachauri.

At the scientific symposium Climate and Food Safety Change in Peru: Impacts, Adaptation, Resilience, "Walter Amoros the International Potato Center estimated that inadequate adaptation of varieties of potatoes could cause a drop in performance of up to 32% in the world.

MILLIONAIRE LOSSES
Also, Pachauri stressed the disappearance of the snow and its effects on water supply in our country.

"Projections estimate that the impacts of melting glaciers will be between $ 212 million to $ 1,500 million due to the loss of power generation"He said.

Pachauri outlined in Lima's most recent progress report of the IPCC, which will be approved this month in Copenhagen (Denmark). "The manifestations of climate change are very clear, and science tells us that all this is happening because of human influence"He noted.

In this regard, the Minister of Environment, Manuel Pulgar-Vidal said that if the causes are human, responses should also be them.

In turn Fidel Jaramillo, the IDB Representative in Peru, said the response to the countries of the region is an integrated watershed management. He stressed the importance of platforms in the Andean region, representing a sophisticated handling of Agriculture.

Those present at the workshop expressed optimism that there is an important negotiations the world climate summit will be in Lima to curb emissions of greenhouse advance. “A fines de este siglo debemos llegar con cero emisiones”, dijo Pachauri.

SOURCE: Elcomercio.pe