Living in Peru : your everyday companion

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

In a ceremony held yesterday at Association of Exporters (ADEX) at San Borja, the recycling forum was formed, and its members are the Ministry of  Environment, recycling workers associations, solid waste recycle companies, municipalities, the civil organization Ciudad Saludable, and the financial company Caja Nuestra Gente.

Albina Ruiz, executive manager of Ciudad Saludable, informed that Peru produces around 20,065 tons of domestic waste, of which 25% is reusable.

At present, only 15% of this is being recovered, and under inadequate conditions for  recycling workers and other people involved.

Representing the companies, ADEX President, Jose Luis Silva Martinot, said the formalization and association of recycling workers will allow for a direct deal with private companies, which will avoid intermediaries, thus allowing for more profit for recycling workers.

"Nowadays, Peru exports between 10 million and 12 million of PET products or plastic by-products, but it could be done in a better way, and with more profits," said Silva.

Vice-Minister of Environmental Management, Ana María González del Valle, stressed that the recycling campaign is one of the priorities in her sector and added that the regulations of recycling workers.

100,000 families are dependent on recycling activity, according to a study made by Ciudad Posible.

1,800 tons of garbage is the amount of waste they manipulate.

17 municipalities out of 43 hire landfills in Lima.

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

According to a press release from Environment News Service (ENS), the Walt Disney Company has agreed on a US $7 million investment to protect forests in the United States, in the Peruvian Amazon, and in the Congo Basin.

Reportedly, these projects will “support safeguard ecosystems that benefit climate and quality of life on the planet" by avoiding deforestation, reforesting logged and burned-over areas and improving forest management

The habitat of Andean spectacled bear and yellow-tailed woolly monkey in Peru will be conserved.

The investment is being made in partnership with three nongovernmental organizations: Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy and The Conservation Fund.

The protection of these forests will also reduce carbon emissions and secure vital watersheds and habitat for a wide variety of plants and animals, many of them threatened or endangered, the company said in a statement today.

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Reportedly, four oil companies are currently exploring in the areas nearby the Titicaca Lake National Reserve.

On April 16th, Peru-Petro signed an agreement granting the blocks 155 and 156 in concession for exploration, located in the Puno provinces of Azángaro, San Antonio de Putina, Huancané, Moho, El Collao and Chucuito.

The granting generated protests among the authorities and local organizations, since they think that oil exploitation would harm the ecosystem.

According to an article printed today in El Comercio, the Bolivian government also opposes to this exploitation since there is a bilateral treat that bans this kind of activities unless they have previously been consulted to both countries.

But those are not the only one blocks open to exploration. Back in 2005 and 2007 Perú-Petro granted in concession the blocks 105 and 141.

The areas are very close to the lake, and Puno population has not been appropriately informed regarding this matter.

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Native Federation of Madre de Dios River (Fenamad) announced that they are organizing a massive sit-down, asking for talks with officials from US based Hunt Oil Co., in order to demand them to leave their territories.

Hunt Oil was granted in concession some blocks (which are now under exploration and exploitation) that are reportedly located inside Amarakaeri's Communal Reserve.

According to some reports, these blocks overlap the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve, protected ancestral lands that could hold billions of dollars of oil deposits.

Jaime Corisepa, Fenamad's vice President, explained to CNR Radio that the sit down will take place in a sector called Botas Colorado, located in Madre de Dios district (province of Manu), next to Hunt Oil's camp.

“We are not allowing the presence of this company. Despite the fact that the Peruvian state has given our ancestral land to Hunt Oil, we will keep on resisting until the company goes away,” said Corisepa.

He also reported that Fenamad has started legal actions and is channeling information related to the environmental impact of Hunt Oil activities in the communal reserve.

Six hydrographic river basins, which are the only sources of water for nearly 10,000 people, are originated in Amarakaeri Communal Reserve territories.

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

The Huaytapallana snowy peak is the main source of life for the Mantaro Valley: its waters are used for human consumption, for agriculture and industry.

However, according to recent studies by the Geophysical Institute of Peru (IGP), during the last 20 years the its glacier has decreased by 50%, and if that tendency continues, the peak will disappear in 15 years.

Ken Takahashi, head of Peru's Geophysics Institute (IGP) told Peru21 that this represents a serious threat to the region's water reserves as the snow currently provides almost 100% of the water that runs along the river Shullcas, which is used by the Huancayo people.

"The impact of this can be quite dramatic," he said.

He pointed out that a recent study on the impact of climate change on the Mantaro basin showed that the area has experienced a reduction in rainfall by 15% due to global warming, which is affecting water supply and development of various economic activities.

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Hundreds of volunteers will clean some Limenian beaches tomorrow, like Chucuito, Ventanilla, Ancon and Santa Rosa, as part of a bigger campaign called "International Cleaning of Coasts and Shores - Peru 2009".

The initiative, launched on September 19th by Peruvian Navy and VIDA (“Life”) Institute, with the aim of creating awareness about the effect of garbage in the marine seaside ecosystems.

The campaign includes conferences and activities like cleaning beaches and rivers, lakes and lagoons, involving the community and public and private institutions.

Volunteers eager to participate in this campaign are invited to be at 8:00 A.M. at Carpayo, Cantolao, Arenilla and Malecón Pardo beaches; as for Ventanilla, people will gather at Plaza Cívica and then will go to Costa Azul beach afterwards.

In Ancón, volunteers will clean the Conchitas and Santa Rosa beaches, and Navy will clean some sections of Rimac River.

Callao Regional Government, Ventanilla, Ancón and Santa Rosa Municipalities, Ancón Educational Units, Satelite Radio, Repsol YPF, Taboada Purification Plant and Coca Cola Company are supporting this campaign.

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Four "Ecological Security Boxes" will be inaugurated this Friday by Callao's Regional Government, aiming to reinforce citizen security and to contribute to environmental conservation.

The ecological security points, located throughout different places in Callao, are part of a master plan aiming to reinforce citizen security, by using non-polluting, small modules.

According to a press release, these surveillance points are made of pieces of wood, with triple ceilings and walls made of recycled PET bottles full of saw-dust, protecting the guard from external temperatures.

This ingenious and new system is being developed by the Regional Management of Natural Resources and Environmental Management, with the initiative of Dr. Alexander Kouri (Mayor of Callao), and has been successfully applied recently in Central America.

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Literally thousands of used disposable plastic bottles are invading the areas surrounding Machu Picchu citadel, because local merchants, who live almost exclusively on tourism, refuse to obey the municipal decree that bans these containers.

The local population is approximately 5,000 people, whose economy highly depends on commerce and services for tourists.

Marcela Moreno, Head of Environmental and Natural Resources, told EFE that some 3,000 bottled water and other bottled beverages are sold everyday in Machu Picchu.

The city collected 10,000 kg of plastic disposable containers in 2007 and 20,000  kg in 2008, so this year local authorities decided to ban them "without calculating the economic impact it would have on the population," said Moreno.

The amount of plastic collected for recycling is enormous, but authorities are more concerned about all the bottles that are not disposed into the recycling bins, which could make a quarter of the total amount, according to Moreno.

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Hotel administrators in the Sacred Valley of the Incas have developed a project to make about five thousand paper bags in order to decrease the excessive use of plastic bags, which might represent an environmental threat.

Edwin Gonzalez, president of the Association of Hotels and Restaurants, said that this initiative was born during the "Campaign for Corporate Social Responsibility," organized for the third year by hotels and inns in Cusco.

Gonzalez pointed out that plastic bags last for hundreds of years before turning into small toxic little particles; he warned that there is an excessive increase of plastic bags in the Sacred Valley and Cusco, which are mostly dumped into rivers and fields, polluting them.

"This idea is still a project: we need a working plan. But we will do our best to implement it," he said.

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Peru's Environment Minister Antonio Brack told the press that the Executive will publish soon the Regulations on Agricultural Biosafety, which explicitly bans the entry of seeds genetically modified (trans-genetic) into Peru until 2014.

The mentioned text was completed in 2005, after a process that lasted nearly three years, with the participation of institutions and sectors involved in these issues, and was submitted to public consult on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture (Minag) in December 2008.

Only a few comments have been received so far, mostly from the Ministry of Environment (Minam), National Institute of Agrarian Innovation (INIA) and Platform for a Peru Free of Trans-genetics.

Minister Brack said that the delay in authorizing trans-genetics in Peru is due to the need of taking minimal time to technically prepare the institutions for monitoring these products, and to implement a laboratory system that allows their monitoring and control.

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.