Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Living in Peru
Jobana Soto

The Pajchiri Bay, part of the world famous Lake Titicaca, is in horrible condition according to locals who live by the bay. Among the many towns living off Lake Titicaca, Pajchiri Bay is the most polluted with contaminated water, fish and plants.

Both Peruvian and Bolivian government officials want to change the face of Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world, and the people the lake serves for survival.

“I was born here, there were many fishes. I learned to live my life with fish but now there are no fishes, many have died,” said Pablo Mamani, who lives off the Pajchiri Bay.

Mamani, 48, is one of the 2,000 people living in the area of Cohana Bay, where the quality of water has deteriorated due to pollution and littering. But officials in both Peru and Bolivia have agreed to work together to clean up the contamination of the bay after a recent investigation of the waters.

In the waters, levels of arsenic materials such as zinc were found according to the Autoridad Binacional of Perú and Bolivia Autónoma (ALT). Though president of ALT, Julián Barra, acknowledged that contamination levels in Lake Titicaca are spread throughout, he believes Cohana Bay should be the starting point for Peru and Bolivia to focus cleaning.

Bolivia contributed US$80,000 to help ALT in its work. Currently, the ALT is being financed on US$28,000 from the Peruvian government.

When water levels in Lake Titicaca are high, ALT will begin maintaining and cleaning the Cohana Bay.

Living in Peru
Jobana Soto

In an effort to stop oil drilling in the Achuar region of the Amazons, San Francisco-based lobby group, Amazon Watch, has ordered oil drilling company Talisman Energy to cease its operations by Saturday or they will face serious conflict.

According to an official press release by Amazon Watch, the organization held a telephone meeting yesterday with Talisman to discuss the growing concerns between the company and local indigenous groups in Anchuar affected by the drilling.

In a report released by Amazon Watch, 80 percent of the indigenous people in the vicinity want the drilling giant off their property and are planning to set up blockages to stop the drilling.

Talisman is required by international law to obtain a written consent of the indigenous peoples whose territories are to be affected by the company’s operations. They claim they have permission from the Anchuar population to drill in Peru’s northern rainforest though they have received doubt from Amazon Watch claiming the numbers don’t add up to their findings.

In an October 22nd statement made to Reuters, the company does not intend to stop its operations in Anchaur. “We are not planning on leaving Peru any time soon,” David Mann, a Talisman official, said. “My understanding is we have all the agreements and consents we require from communities in the areas where we're operating. There may be other groups that are outside our area of operation who are asking for something different.”

This comes at a time when Talisman is trying to up keep its reputation after the controversy over their drilling in Sudan, where critics became overly concerned that the company’s presence was helping fund the genocide by the Sudan government.

News Source: Reuters

In an effort to preserve one of the elements of Peru’s Coat of Arms, the National Institute of Natural Resources (Inrena) will plant thousands of cinchona trees across the country.

“The goal is to promote studies on cinchona trees and plant thousands of them through reforestation projects across the country”, said Inrena’s head Francisco Palomino García.

"We are currently doing a census of these trees in Peru and we have identified some specimens in Jaen and Chota in the Andean department of Cajamarca. We asked local authorities to report us all the information they have about this species", he added.

Despite being one of the emblems of the National Coat of Arms, the cinchona tree (the source of quinine, a powerful anti-malarial drug and the key flavorant in tonic water) is unknown for nearly 90 percent of Peruvians.

The cinchona tree, which represents Peru's rich flora, is in the top right section of the Coat of Arms on a white background.

Peru has 17 of the 23 species registered in South America, 3 of those (calisaya, pubescens y officinalis) produce quinine, a powerful anti-malarial drug.

News Source: Andina

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz

From October 28 - 30, Peru will take part in 'Exercise Pacific Wave', a pre-arranged tsunami scenario to increase preparedness and improve coordination throughout the country.

Organized by UNESCOs Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), the exercise will simulate a Tsunami Warning situation, requiring Peru to take all preliminary steps short of alerting the public.

According to the scenario, a magnitude-9.2 earthquake will hit off Japan's northeast coast forming a destructive tsunami that will move in real time across the entire Pacific, taking approximately 24 hours to travel to Peru.

UNESCO has affirmed that the purpose of the exercise is to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (PTWS), its operational Tsunami Warning Centers, and its Member States in responding to a destructive tsunami.

Aside from Peru, UNESCO representatives affirmed that more than 20 countries around the Pacific Rim would participate in the Tsunami Warning and Communication Exercise.

Even though the exercise will not involve populations, it was reported that it would review current warning system procedures and help identify operational strengths and weaknesses in countries such as Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, and Nicaragua among others.

With the objective of promoting the exchange of seismic and sea level data for rapid tsunami detection and analysis, the IOC formed the PTWS.

This was done after a magnitude 9.5 earthquake occurred off the coast of Chile in 1960 and created a mostly un-warned tsunami that caused damage and casualties across the entire Pacific basin, including countries as far away as Japan.

The President of the Orchid Society of Great Britain and member of the Orchid Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society, Henry F. Oakeley, said the orchids collection of Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel, located in Cusco, is the world’s largest collection of native orchids placed in a natural environment inside a private area.

Oakeley said this at the launch of his book named “Orchids at Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel”, at the Royal College of Physicians in London, commemorating 20 years of “in Situ” (on site) conservation of native orchid species in this hotel.

During the press conference, he said that the hotel’s garden has 372 different species of orchids, a huge value for the development of eco-tourism in Peru.

This is not only an important center for research and conservation of orchids, but also a natural laboratory where Peruvians can be completely trained in botany, ornithology, tourism and horticulture.

"It is also an attractive place where hotel guests can experience the richness of Peru's biodiversity, while enjoying a pleasant holiday," said Oakeley.

In May 2001, the bulletin of the American Orchid Society reported that "the orchids collection of the Inkaterra Machu Picchu Hotel was probably the world’s largest collection of native orchids placed in a natural environment, inside a private area.

The Governments of the United States and Peru announced Tuesday an agreement to reduce Peru’s debt payments in exchange for protecting the country’s tropical forests. Under the agreement more than 25 million dollars will be put towards conserving Peru’s rainforests.

This agreement with Peru was made possible by the Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA) of 1998.

It will complement an existing TFCA debt-for-nature program in Peru dating from 2002, a 1997 debt swap under the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative, and the United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (TPA), which includes a number of forest protection provisions.

With this agreement, Peru will be the largest beneficiary under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act, with more than 35 million dollars generated for conservation.

Peru is one of the most biologically rich countries on earth. Funds generated by the debt-for-nature program will help Peru protect tropical rainforests of the southwestern Amazon Basin and dry forests of the central Andes.

These areas are home to dense concentrations of endemic birds such as the Andean Condor and Andean Parakeet; primates including the Peruvian Yellow-tailed Woolly Monkey and Howler Monkey; other mammals such as the Jaguar, Amazonian Manatee, Giant Otter, Spectacled Bear and Amazon River Dolphin, as well as many unique plants.

Rivers supplying water to downstream settlements originate in many of these forests, and people living in and around the forests depend on them for their livelihood and survival.

The new Peru agreement marks the 14th Tropical Forest Conservation Act pact, following agreements with Bangladesh, Belize, Botswana, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Panama (two agreements), Paraguay and the Philippines, as well as an earlier agreement with Peru.

These debt-for-nature programs will together generate more than 188 million dollars to protect tropical forests.

The regional government of Ucayali will promote the conservation of paiche (jungle fish species) in this Peruvian jurisdiction with an investment of about two million dollars, the regional director of Production, Mariano Rebaza, reported today.

In statements to Andina news agency, he explained that an initial project would focus on the Imiría lagoon, of the Masisea district, where previously there was a good amount of the above-mentioned fish species and which is experiencing a decline today.

"For this initiative, we will earmark a budget of 2.02 million dollars and the regional government, 14 native communities of the zone, the Research Institute of Peruvian Amazonia and fishermen's association will participate in the campaign", he said.

He also stated that one of the first steps will be to implement a closed season in the lake as well as to organize fishing surveillance local committees and to repopulate with 500 breeding of 4-year paiche.

The arapaima, pirarucu, or paiche (Arapaima gigas) is a South American tropical freshwater fish.

It is one of the larger freshwater fish in the world, reportedly with a maximum length up to 4.5 m (14.75 ft.) and weight up to 200 kg (440 lb.). The maximum weight and length is disputed. It is the largest freshwater fish in South America.

As one of the most sought after food fish species in South America, it is often captured primarily by handheld nets for export, by spearfishing for local consumption, and, consequently, large arapaima of more than 2 m are seldom found in the wild today.

News source: ANDINA

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz

Eighty-six percent of Peru's air pollution is generated by cars. This worrisome figure has pushed the Andean country's authorities to celebrate World Carfree Day on September 22 along with the rest of the globe.

To celebrate this day, over two hundred cyclists, the majority of which were minors, rode to congressional buildings in Lima to demand the approval of a law that will foster the use of bicycles in Lima.

Led by several urban cyclist associations, the group gave congressional vice-president Alejandro Aguinaga a document signed by 10,000 people requesting the approval of the law.

According to local media, the law, which would obligate all the cities in the country to build bike routes, has been waiting to be approved by congress for twenty years.

The ride began at San Martín Square in downtown Lima with bicycles carrying signs reading, "Respect my life" and "Say no to old cars".

"It's not about asking for a favor, but about demanding a right that we are entitled to by the constitution," said Jenny Samanez, head of the efforts being made to pass the law.

She explained that in Lima there were 126 kilometers (78 miles) of bike routes while in the rest of the country they practically did not exist.

The new water and wastewater treatment plants in Lima will be completed before 2011 to benefit the poor population of the capital city, Peruvian president Alan García Pérez said today.

García mentioned that Lima’s second plant "La Atarjea" will double the amount of water processed, as it will use the flow of the Mantaro river.

The Peruvian leader said new pipelines would be laid to supply water to Lima's northern areas because the old ones were too small given the increased number of users.

García also noted that wastewater would be treated to reduce sea water contamination that has affected Lima’s bay for more than 70 years.

Therefore, he underscored that for the first time two wastewater treatment plants are being built in Lima (Taboada and La Chira) which will contribute to a cleaner coastline.

News source: ANDINA