Peru to host int'l forum on glaciers

Peru will host the International Glacier and Mountain Ecosystems Forum next month to discuss the effects of global warming on food and water sources.

In the lead up to the event, a leading researcher warned that the country has lost 40 percent of its mountain glaciers over the past 40 years, from 2,042 to 1,290 square km.

Global warming is causing the deterioration of the glaciers, which will impact the amount of water that flows toward the coast from the snow-capped mountain peaks, Benjamin Morales, president of the National Research Institute in Glaciers and Mountain Ecosystems, told in a press conference Wednesday.

The loss of these water reserves is worrying as more than 50 percent of the population is concentrated in the arid Peruvian coast. Endi