Environmental Problems of
Peru
Michael Valqui
Amazon Programme Director
World Wildlife Fund
• Priority environmental problems in Peru
• How does WWF try to tackle them
• What can you do
• What are some enviromental problems
you know of?
12 general environmental problems
(Diamond 2005, Collapse)
1. Deforestation and habitat destruction
2. Soil problems (erosion, salinization, and soil
fertility losses)
3. Water management problems
12 general environmental problems
(Diamond 2005, Collapse)
4. Overhunting
5. Overfishing
6. Effects of introduced species on
native species
12 general environmental problems
(Diamond 2005, Collapse)
7. Overpopulation
8. Increased per-capita impact of
people
9. Human-caused climate change
Ecological footprint and human development
Peru
12 general environmental problems
(Diamond 2005, Collapse)
10. Buildup of toxins in the
environment
11. Energy shortages
12. Full human utilization of
the Earth’s photosynthetic capac
ity
• What are in my opinion the environmental
problems of Peru?
Priority environmental problems in Peru
1. Deforestation and habitat destruction
2. Soil problems (erosion, salinization,
and soil fertility losses)
3. Water management problems
Priority environmental problems in Peru
4. Overhunting
5. Overfishing
6. Effects of introduced species on
native species
Priority environmental problems in Peru
7. Overpopulation
8. Increased per-capita impact of
people
9. Human-caused climate change
Priority environmental problems in Peru
10. Buildup of toxins in the environment
11. Energy shortages
12. Full human utilization of the Earth’s photosynthetic capacity
Priority environmental problems in Peru
1.Deforestation and habitat destruction
2. Soil problems (erosion, salinization, and soil
fertility losses)
3. Water management problems
5. Overfishing
9. Human-caused climate change
10. Buildup of toxins in the environment
• What are the causes of these problems?
Example
• Direct cause of
deforestation:
Pedro cuts the
tree
• What can we do?
• Can we go and stop Pedro from felling the
tree?
Don’t cut the
treeeees!!!
Yeah, he is in
underpants!
He must be
kidding!!
• Not very
effective…
• We have to understand the problem
• What are the direct causes, what are the
indirect causes, what are the root causes
• To organize our thoughts we work with
models
Not with these models!
Models of how we understand the
environmental problems.
Ok, so why did
Pedro cut the
tree?
Because it was
in my way to
the gold…
UH-OH
SO, LET US MAKE A MODEL OF INFORMAL
GOLD MINING IN THE AMAZON
Balsa gringo
Draga
Chupadera
Caranchera
Shute - cargador frontal
Problem 1 created by goldmining:
Deforestation and habitat
destruction
I am
Pedro
HUEPETUHE - CAYCHIVE
HUEPETUHE - CAYCHIVE
HUEPETUHE - CAYCHIVE
HUEPETUHE - CAYCHIVE
HUEPETUHE - CAYCHIVE
19 km.
2 km.
Madre de Dios, Perú
2005
• Ejemplos de carreteras en bosques
tropicales
50 km
Problem 2 created by gold mining:
Build up of mercury (toxins)
Liquid mercury is added to the sand/gold mix to
“pull out” the gold out of the sand, approximately
1 gram mercury per gram of gold.
• As a Madre de Dios miner, once you have
the gold/mercury mix, what do you do?
Bring your gold/mercury mix to the next store
Vaporize the mercury
Let the gold cool down
Weigh the gold and get paid 92 soles/gram
Cool?
• A small miner can produce 1 to 2 grams of
gold per day, i.e. gross income of 92 to
184 soles a day
• Madre de Dios produces 16 tons of gold in
a year, worth $ 600 million
Not cool!
• Since it is mostly illegal or informal only
$42,000 are collected in taxes (less than
0.06%)
Not cool!
So what about the model?
1.Deforestation:
Pedro cuts trees
and digs deep
holes to get
to the gold
I am
Pedro
2. Buildup of
toxins: Pedro
dumps mercury
into the river
and into the air
Pedro
informally
mines for
gold
Deforestation:
Pedro cuts trees
and digs deep
holes to get
to the gold
2. Buildup of
toxins: Pedro
dumps mercury
into the river
and into the air
Highlands are
environmentally degraded
and forgotten by central
government
People in the highlands
don’t have good
economic opportunities
Pedro migrates to
Madre de Dios
Pedro
informally
mines for
gold
Developing
country,
small and
weak
government
Deforestation:
Pedro cuts trees
and digs deep
holes to get
to the gold
2. Buildup of
toxins: Pedro
dumps mercury
into the river
and into the air
Pedro
informally
mines for
gold
Developing
country,
small and
weak
government
Low costs: anybody can be a gold miner
everywhere except in urban areas, no
control on impacts, no taxes to be paid
High gold prices: 1 gram 92 soles for the
miner, can obtain 1 to 1.5 grams per day
Global economic
crisis: everybody
wants gold
Deforestation:
Pedro cuts trees
and digs deep
holes to get
to the gold
2. Buildup of
toxins: Pedro
dumps mercury
into the river
and into the air
Wrong ideas about what to
do in the Amazon region
No investment in green
activities
No other good options in Madre de Dios,
no knowledge, no plans, no capacities
Pedro
informally
mines for
gold
Deforestation:
Pedro cuts trees
and digs deep
holes to get
to the gold
2. Buildup of
toxins: Pedro
dumps mercury
into the river
and into the air
Highlands are
environmentally degraded
and forgotten by central
government
People in the highlands
don’t have good
economic opportunities
Wrong ideas about what to
do in the Amazon region
Pedro migrates to
Madre de Dios
No investment in green
activities
No other good options in Madre de Dios,
no knowledge, no plans, no capacities
Developing
country,
small and
weak
government
Low costs: anybody can be a gold miner
everywhere except in urban areas, no
control on impacts, no taxes to be paid
High gold prices: 1 gram 92 soles for the
miner, can obtain 1 to 1.5 grams per day
Global economic
crisis: everybody
wants gold
Pedro
informally
mines for
gold
Deforestation:
Pedro cuts trees
and digs deep
holes to get
to the gold
2. Buildup of
toxins: Pedro
dumps mercury
into the river
and into the air
Create an
“Amazon
Highlands
are
environmentally
greendegraded
and forgotten by central
forever”
government
campaign
No go
zones,
recovery of
old mining
sites
People in the highlands
don’t have good
economic opportunities
Wrong ideas about what to
do in the Amazon region
Invest in
ecotoursim
Pedro migrates to
Madre de Dios
No investment in green
activities
No other good options in Madre de Dios,
no knowledge, no plans, no capacities
Developing
country,
small and
weak
government
Low costs: anybody can be a gold miner
everywhere except in urban areas, no
control on impacts, no taxes to be paid
High gold prices: 1 gram 92 soles for the
miner, can obtain 1 to 1.5 grams per day
Global economic
crisis: everybody
wants gold
Pedro
informally
mines for
gold
Increase taxes
so
government
can be
stronger
Give Pedro
a job at an
ecotoursim
lodge
Deforestation:
Pedro cuts trees
and digs deep
holes to get
to the gold
2. Buildup of
toxins: Pedro
dumps mercury
into the river
and into the air
Use other
methods
of gold
extraction
• Environmental problems are social
problems. You must deal with the people.
• Most of WWF’s work is more with people,
less with animals or the environment
directly.
• What can we do as citizens?
– Inform ourselves
– Inform others
– Change our behavior to reduce our footprint
– Give a good example
– Be part of a greater initiative
Join Campaigns
Think about our ecological footprint
•
•
•
•
•
Walk more, drive less
Chose green appliances
Eat local food
Eat less meat
Drink filtered tapwater,
not bottled water
• Use less water
• Use less energy
• Reduce, reuse, recycle
• Since a year ago I drive to work on my
bike.
– I emitted 600kg less carbon dioxide
– I saved 2800 soles in transport costs
– I made 40 minutes of daily exercise for 200
days (no gym fees)
What else can we do?
• In the next 5 minutes, write on a sheet of
paper an idea to reduce your ecological
footprint and if you want, make a
commitment.
• http://www.panda.org/how_you_can_help/
greenliving/
michael.valqui@gmail.com