Peru’s melting glaciers bring new harvests – and fears for the future

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A network of artificial stone canals channel those glacial waters to the community’s vast expanse of farmlands, feeding into fields of ruby-red strawberries, succulent sugar-snap peas, and the ever-growing number of reservoirs that dot the land.

“It’s easy work,” says Hugo Adriano Echeverria Paulino, a 48-year-old farmer who cultivates sugar-snap peas on seven hectares (17 acres) of land amid a breathtaking scene of snow-capped mountains and soaring valleys.

The Cordillera Blanca, which extends for more than 100 miles and includes several Andean peaks that are more than 6,000 metres above sea level, is considered a “ground zero” of climate breakdown as communities within it contend with a fearsome range of threats, from unprecedented, chaotic weather to surges in crop-destroying pests, blows to tourism reliant on fast-disappearing glaciers, and escalating conflicts over water.

In some areas, it has heightened the risk of outbursts with deadly consequences, but in Hualcayán, the unusual surplus of water – a stark contrast to the bitter drought faced by other Andean communities and regions across Peru – has allowed local farmers to benefit in some ways.

Owing to its geographical location, Tzactza doesn’t have access to other natural water sources, such as rivers, yet the farmers are still suffering the ill effects of climate breakdown, with unpredictable, unseasonal rains.

Juan Salvador Cruz, a 77-year-old farmer working with his son under the beating midday heat, is attempting to irrigate a field of potatoes using only buckets of water collected by hand from a small, murky brown pool.

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