Floods and glacial avalanches since the 1930s in the Peruvian Andes have killed thousands and threaten local communities today, says Mark Carey, assistant professor of history at the University of Oregon.
Carey will present the lecture “Water and Ice in the Andes: A Century of Climate Change, Glacier Disasters and Hydro-Social Conflicts” from 7:30-9 p.m. Feb. 3 in the Exhibit Museum of Natural History Hall of Evolution.
Carey says the floods and avalanches have generated an increasing number of conflicts over water supplies. The fallout from shrinking glaciers in Peru represent the same processes occurring in mountain ranges worldwide, he says, from the Andes and Alps to the Rockies and Himalayas.
While the abundance of water has flooded communities, there is increasing concern that water supplies are declining as glaciers retreat. Worries about water shortages already are pitting local Peruvian communities against hydroelectric companies and large-scale irrigators, making water an unpredictable resource. Glacier melt water can unleash catastrophic floods or disappear in droughts and dry seasons, leaving communities to take to the streets to fight for what they believe is their water.
Adaptation to future climate change and hydrological variability, this Andean case suggests, ultimately will depend on resolving social issues such as power discrepancies, diverse cultural beliefs, race relations and class divisions.
The lecture is sponsored by Latin American and Caribbean Studies, the Eisenberg Institute, School of Natural Resources and Environment, Doctoral Program in Anthropology and History, and the LSA Water Theme Semester.
