Peru's retreating glaciers stir water-supply worries

[Judi Lynn]

Monday, February 12, 2007 - Page updated at 12:23 AM

Peru's retreating glaciers stir water-supply worries
By LESLIE JOSEPHS

The Associated Press





KAREL NAVARRO / AP

A high-altitude visitor views the Pastoruri glacier in Peru last November. Scientists say tropical glaciers are melting due to global warming, and data indicate the loss of ice is speeding up.

PASTORURI GLACIER, Peru — Peru's "White Mountain Range" may soon have to change its name.

The ice atop Cordillera Blanca, the largest glacier chain in the tropics, is melting fast because of rising temperatures, and peaks are turning brown. The trend is highlighting fears of global warming and, scientists say, is endangering future water supplies to the arid coast where most Peruvians live.

Glaciologists consider the health of the world's glaciers an indicator of global warming, and they warn that what is happening in the Andes signals trouble ahead.

"To me it's the rate of ice loss that's a real concern" because when melting accelerates, the ice cannot replenish itself, said Lonnie Thompson, a leading glacier expert at Ohio State University.
(snip/...)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003567826_peru12.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Glacier Melt Hits Peru's Neighbors Too

Glacier Melt Hits Peru's Neighbors Too
The Associated Press

February 11, 2007, 12:25 PM EST

All of Latin America's Andean nations report their glaciers are retreating.

PERU: Andes mountains have lost at least 22 percent of their glacier area since 1970 and the meltdown is speeding up, according to Peru's National Resources Institute, INRENA, a government agency.

BOLIVIA: Glacier melt has accelerated significantly since 1980, says Jaime Argollo Bautista, director of the Institute of Geological Investigation at Bolivia's University of San Andres. He predicts the country's glaciers will disappear in 30 to 40 years.

ECUADOR: Glaciologist Luis Maisincho says he's noticed ice melting rapidly atop Cotopaxi, an active volcano whose 19,000-foot snowcapped peak can be seen from the capital, Quito, 40 miles to the northwest.

COLOMBIA: Snowcaps are receding at an average rate of 80 feet a year, an increase from about 50 feet just a few years earlier, according to hydrologist Carlos Costa.

VENEZUELA: The high peaks of the Sierra Nevada of Merida range show some glaciers have entirely disappeared over the past several decades, while others have shrunk significantly.
(snip/)

http://www.amny.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-andes-glaciers-glance,0,2114911.story?coll=ny-ap-lottery-wire

[Rydz777]

3. Paraguay base

I've read about this base before, and according to one account Rumsfeld made a secret visit there to coordinate with the Paraguayan government - which has NOT been a close ally (U.S. citizens have to have visas to get into Paraguay.) The plot thickens because the population of Paraguay is largely Guarani, and that part of Bolivia where the natutal gas is located is also heavily Guarani - and since Evo Morales became President they have been agitated by business interests to secede from the country. P.S. The spellcheck doesn't recognize Rumfeld and suggests Misfield as a substitute.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Congrats. to the spellchecker! I wish WE couldn't remember his name, too!

As far as the secession agitation going on, it has seemed likely that there was someone else involved in that bright idea besides Bolivians!

Here's the latest I could locate if anyone's interested in what the heck happened with that immunity for US soldiers thing _Bush pushed through with Paraguay:

Paraguay Revokes U.S. Military Immunity
Written by Jessica Weisberg and Benjamin T. Brown
Thursday, 05 October 2006
(Editor's note: Article updated, corrected on 10-13-06)

On October 2, the Paraguayan government announced its decision to revoke U.S. immunity as soon as their current contract expires in December 2006. The US military has carried out military exercises in Paraguay since July 2005. Since then the troops have enjoyed technical and administrative immunity, exempting them from trial in the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Thomas Shannon, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, said that the US will not continue to provide military support without immunity for its soldiers. However, on October 3, 2006 President Bush signed a waiver allowing for military aid in countries that have refused to sign immunity agreements with the US military. The waiver affects 21 countries, including Paraguay.

Historically, Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte Frutos and President George W. Bush have enjoyed what Brazilian President Lula calls a "political matrimony." (quote from Ultimahora) Paraguay´s decision represents a political alliance with the countries in the MercoSur trade block, which includes Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Venezuela.

Orlando Castillo, director of SERPAJ, a human rights organization based in Paraguay, stated that Frutos´decision does not necessarily represent an ideological shift of Paraguay´s center-right government. Castillo explained that regional solidarity would require major reforms in all sectors of the Paraguayan government. Furthermore, military representatives from the CIA, DEA, and FBI will continue to hold immunity in Paraguay.
(snip/)

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/452/68/

[Judi Lynn]

2. No doubt you've read the right-wing Rev. Sun Myung Moon bought the enormous

tract of land directly above the world's largest underground source of fresh water, in the Chaco region of Paraguay, the "Guarani Aquifer," and that nearby, the _Bushes are said to have purchased land, themselves.

We do know that there's a huge air landing strip nearby, and U.S. military installation, where they are located 200 kilometers from Bolivia, 2nd largest reserve of natural gas, and also tin, and other needed metals. The air base, Mariscal Estigarribia, can house 16,000 troops.

The airbase:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=U.S._military_presence_in_Paraguay





ENTRADA. ASI LUCE LA PUERTA DE ACCESO AL AEROPUERTO
MONTADO JUNTO A LA BASE MARISCAL ESTIGARRIBIA.
(Foto: NORBERTO DUARTE)