Global Warming

Peru's Glacial Melt-Off Reaches 40 Percent

Glaciers near the southern South American country of Peru have shrunk by 40 percent in the past four decades, which has created a number of high-altitude lakes.

Climate change is the cause for the melt-off, which has spawned nearly 1,000 new high-altitude lakes since 1980, the Peruvian government said Wednesday.

The glaciers in Peru are small compared to those found in the north and south poles, and are at a greater risk of disappearing. In addition, 70 percent of the world's tropical glaciers are found in Peru, and they are extremely sensitive to the warming temperatures associated with climate change.

In the coming years, 90 percent of the 2,679 glaciers could disappear, the country's water authority said, updating its report of glacier inventory that was last issued in the 1970s.

Those at greater risk of melting away are smaller than 1-square-kilometre, and spread over 19 snow-capped mountain ranges of the Andes.

Officials said 996 lakes have emerged in the Andes since the last count in 1980, which increases the total to 8,355.

They are the majority source of the country's drinking water.