Civil Defense may declare emergency in Loreto due to drop in Amazon river level

The civil defense committee in Peru’s north-eastern Loreto department will meet on Friday to discuss declaring an emergency due to a drop in the Amazon River’s water level.

Water levels in the Amazon River in Peru, which is the main means of transportation to the jungle city of Iquitos, Loreto’s capital, has fallen to historic lows, which creates concerns for the supply of basic goods, daily El Comercio reported.

“The transportation of basic products are not arriving at a regular interval,” the regional head of National Defence, Robert Falcon, said. “In normal conditions it would take 12 to 15 days, but now it takes twice as long. That increases speculation and the price of goods. The proposal is to create an airlift to guarantee the transportation of basic articles.”

The decrease in water is largely due to the El Niño weather phenomenon, the head of Peru’s national meteorology and hydrology service Senamhi in Loreto, Marco Paredes, said.

“The main cause of this lack of precipitation is that it is not raining in the basins of the Ucayali, Huallaga and Marañon rivers,” Paredes said, adding that that precipitation is falling in Colombia and Venezuela.

“Even though El Niño ended in May, it has left consequences such as the movement of the rains, which have also affected Brazil.”

Peru exports to Brazil via Transoceanic South highway could start by year’s-end

Peruvian exports to Brazil via the Transoceanic South highway may start by the end of the year, state news agency Andina reported Peru’s Foreign Trade and Tourism Minister, Martin Perez, as saying.

“There are high expectations for the use the Transoceanic South in both Brazil and Peru,” Perez said. “Authorities from the [Brazilian] states of Acre, Rondonia and Mato Grosso have offered to organize a joint program to begin trade between the two countries.” Read more…

Peru’s indigenous to launch political party

Indigenous groups in Peru’s Amazon region will launch a political party to compete in the country’s 2011 elections, Spanish news agency Efe reported the head of the Interethnic Association for the Development of Peru’s Jungle (Aidesep), Alberto Pizango, as saying.

The party will be called the Alliance for an Alternative for Humanity, or APHU, Pizango said. They are currently collecting signatures and plan to officially register the party in September. Read more…

Peru’s Quelccaya glacier could disappear within 10 years, specialist says

Peru’s Quelccaya glacier, the largest in the tropics, could disappear within 10 years, Jose Machare, a climate change specialist at Peru’s Geological Society told state news agency Andina.

Studies of Quelccaya during the last 30 years have found the glacier retreated at an average rate of 6 meters per year during the first 15 years and 60 meters per year in the last 15. This year, it is expected to retreat 150 meters as a result of an unprecedented increase in global temperatures.

“Right now we are in a period of warming, the temperature will become warmer than the normal curve until we begin a new glaciation period,” Machare said. “This is caused by various human factors.” Read more…

Peru declares emergency due to cold in 16 departments

Peru’s government has declared an emergency in 16 of the country’s 24 departments on Friday as a result of a cold wave, with an emphasis on areas located at least 3,000 meters above sea level, state news agency Andina reported.

Peru’s minister of Women, Nidia Vilchez, said the emergency was for Ancash, Apurimac, Arequipa, Ayacucho, Cuzco, Huancavelica, Huanuco, Junin, Moquegua, Pasco, Puno, Lima and Tacna as well as the three departments in Peru’s jungle region, Madre de Dios, Ucayali and Loreto. Read more…

Temperature in Lima dips to 8.8C degrees, lowest in more than 40 years

Temperatures in Lima fell to 8.8C degrees on Wednesday, their lowest in more than 40 years, according to daily El Comercio.

The temperature was registered early Wednesday morning in La Molina, Ate and other Lima districts and was influenced by La Niña weather phenomenon, said Raquel Loayza, a meteorologist at the national meteorological and hydrological service, Senamhi.

“From our station at La Molina’s National Agrarian University we reported the temperature today at 8.8C degrees, exactly one month after winter began,” Loayza said. “In 1964, we had similar drops that reached 10.2C degrees, but that was in Callao.”

“To feel the cold it is necessary to have humidity and cold winds. We have a cold sea and as well we have had winds from the south with cold air that reach speeds of 24 kilometers/hour, but the average minimum temperature is 13C degrees.” Read more…

Indigenous community plans demonstrations over promises following oil spill

The cocama indigenous community is planning a series of demonstrations this week to protest Argentinean oil company Pluspetrol’s response following an oil spill last month in the Marañón river in Peru’s north-eastern Loreto department, CNR radio station reported.

Alfonso López, a cocama leader, said the company had agreed to provide medicine, food and water after their community was hit by the toxic aftermath of the spill. According to López, the oil company has failed to fulfill its commitments following the spill, which he says has now affected some 21,000 people in the Saramuro area. Read more…

Puno’s freezing temperatures expected to continue until weekend

Freezing temperatures in southern Peru’s Puno department are expected to last until at least Saturday, according to the national meteorological and hydrological service,  Senamhi.

Temperatures in Puno dropped last week to their lowest levels this year. In the city of Puno, the temperature fell to -4C degrees, -13C degrees in Juliaca, -15C degrees in Crucero and -23C degrees in Masocruz.

Peru’s minister of Women, Nidia Vilchez, announced that 250 tonnes of food would be provided to residents in 65 Puno districts to help weather the cold, state news agency Andina reported. Read more…

Environment Ministry to create national program for forest conservation

Peru’s Environment Ministry (Minam) has published a supreme decree to create the National Program for Forest Conservation to Mitigate Climate Change.

The program will conserve some 54 million hectares of tropical forests in Peru. The decree was published on Thursday in the official gazette El Peruano. Read more…

Judiciary overturns gov’t decision to deport British missionary

A Peruvian court on Tuesday overturned a decision by the Interior Ministry to deport British missionary Paul McAuley, daily El Comercio reported.

“It has been a great surprise this morning to receive notification that recognizes my right to free transit and that I will not be deported for the moment,” said McAuley, a 62-year-old lay activist with the La Salle Christian Brothers who has spent the last 20 years promoting indigenous rights.

McAuley, who is based in Peru’s northern jungle, heads the environmental organization Loreto Environmental Network.

The Interior Ministry informed McAuley two weeks ago that his residency was canceled and gave him seven days to leave Peru. The ministry charged that McAuley violated regulations governing foreign residents by instigating social unrest.

McAuley filed an appeal in the court of Maynas against the decision to deport him. He has received support from the Legal Defense Institute, IDL, the Peruvian Environmental Law Society, SPDA, the Instituto Bartolomé de las Casas, the National Evangelical Council, and the Human Rights Association, Aprodeh.

McAuley said he will continue with his normal work for the moment. “I am relieved and once again I am thankful for all the support from in the country and abroad,” he said.

It was not immediately clear whether the Interior Ministry planned to appeal the court’s ruling.  Presidential Cabinet Chief  Javier Velásquez reportedly reiterated on Tuesday that Peruvian immigration officials had determined McAuley violated regulations governing his residency in Peru, but accepted the court decision overruling the government’s action.

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