dismissed<\/a> his case on the grounds that there was no concrete threat to Sa\u00fal\u2019s home. However, it held that major greenhouse gas emitters could be accountable for the impacts of those emissions under German law.<\/p>\nThe Peruvian farmer Sa\u00fal Luciano Lliuya, who is suing the German energy utility RWE, arguing that the company\u2019s emissions have contributed to the melting of Andean glaciers, at Lake Palcacocha. Photograph: Angela Ponce\/Reuters<\/p>\n
I was born on a farm in Huaraz Independencia, at an altitude of 3,100 metres. From Huaraz, you can see the mountains. The mountains are up to 6,000 metres high. There\u2019s a snowcapped mountain that can be seen quite close from the farm. It\u2019s called Nevado Churup.<\/p>\n
I live in the highlands, near the mountains. I\u2019m the son of small farmers. I\u2019m a farmer and a mountain guide. The fields aren\u2019t easy. Everything is manual, but little by little you adapt. The geography is different: there are slopes here. There are ups and downs. It\u2019s muddy when it rains. It\u2019s very hot when it doesn\u2019t, and there\u2019s plenty of sun. But when you harvest as a child, you already begin to taste the first fruits. Corn, sugar cane, and tender broad beans. You begin to enjoy the countryside.<\/p>\n
We have cows in the mountains, in the ravine, here in Quilcayhuanca. You go twice a month, depending on whether the cows are pregnant or not. When they get pregnant, we have to take them out of the ravine because it\u2019s dangerous. A condor or a fox could eat them. The ravine is roughly a 13- to 12-hour walk there and back. It\u2019s a great challenge to go to the mountains from home. I used to go with my sisters, starting when I was eight or 10 years old.<\/p>\n
The ravine was different than it is now. I remember there were many more wetlands, it had more life. There were more ducks, other birds, which you don\u2019t see now. I remember birds flying almost like they were in the sea. There was also more grass, there were more waterfalls. Now it\u2019s different. There\u2019s less grass, fewer waterfalls. I remember that when we approached the mountain, I used to see a lot of deer, taruca. Now you don\u2019t see much. There are some, but not as many as before.<\/p>\n
Sa\u00fal tends to corn crops at his home. Photograph: Angela Ponce\/Reuters<\/p>\n
The glacier is slowly melting. It\u2019s clearly visible when you\u2019re on the mountain. There are people who live in the city and haven\u2019t visited the mountains. They\u2019ve never been close. As a farmer and as a mountain guide, when you reach a snowy peak and return the following year, and years go by, it impacts you. It makes you feel sorry for the mountains. You feel sad about what\u2019s happening, and it creates a feeling of helplessness, of not being able to do anything about it. If someone has an illness, you treat it, but unfortunately, the mountain can\u2019t be treated. You can\u2019t do anything.<\/p>\n
With the passing of time and the melting of glaciers, lagoons have started to form, and the authorities and experts say it\u2019s very dangerous. In the year 1941, the upper part of an avalanche fell into the Palcacocha lagoon and overflowed, causing a mudslide, killing many people. Some say 18,000, others 20,000.<\/p>\n
Sometimes there were years when it rained heavily, the rivers were full, you could hear them carrying rocks, and I remember my sister and I would get scared. The neighbours were also scared, and they would say: \u201cThat lake burst its banks once and killed a lot of people. We hope the lake doesn\u2019t burst again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The glacier has continued melting, growing the Palcacocha lagoon 34 times since the year 1941 when it overflowed. If another flood were to occur, the landslide would flow in the same direction as in 1941.<\/p>\n
My grandfather tells me that after the flood, it was prohibited to build houses in that alluvial cone. But little by little, the municipalities began to build, to increase the population. That\u2019s when my parents ended up buying a piece of land in a risk zone. That entire alluvial cone has been repopulated. If a landslide were to occur, my house would be affected, even more so the 50,000 people who live in the risk zone.<\/p>\n
Both the authorities and the people don\u2019t know what to do. If this lagoon is dangerous, I think we should work on adaptations and infrastructure to address the risk of the lagoon overflowing, building dams and reservoirs. The community hasn\u2019t received any help. You just stand there, not knowing who to blame, where to complain? We feel abandoned.<\/p>\n
Before meeting Germanwatch, we just felt a sense of helplessness. The organisation came when Cop20 was held in Lima in 2014. In 2015, other Germans came to see the lagoon, to talk with me. Germanwatch and I talked about the glaciers and it told me there was a possibility of suing those responsible.<\/p>\n
Sa\u00fal at home with his daughter Gleysi Luciano and wife, Lidia Loli. Photograph: Angela Ponce\/Reuters<\/p>\n
With this lawsuit, we\u2019re putting pressure on RWE to stop polluting. I\u2019ve been told that the RWE company has contributed 0.47% to climate change. All of Peru has polluted less than that amount. The company should be held accountable for causing these risks. If we sue those who contribute to climate change, they would pay to reduce the risks they\u2019ve caused, they would pay for their damages, and they would pay for the consequences. Justice and reparation.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit seeks \u20ac17,000 (\u00a315,000), which the company must contribute to a project that governments have long been promoting, to build a large, costly dam. I don\u2019t remember the amount, but it\u2019s in the millions. The company must contribute to the construction of the dam to reduce risks.<\/p>\n
We started this lawsuit 10 years ago, and according to what I\u2019ve been told during this visit to Germany, there are about 45 or 60 lawsuits pending against other companies that are polluting. That\u2019s good, isn\u2019t it? To hear that the effort, the lawsuit, is somehow paving the way for other lawsuits.<\/p>\n
About the series <\/p>\n
This is climate breakdown was put together in collaboration with the Climate Disaster Project at University of Victoria, Canada. Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n Production team <\/p>\n
I think it\u2019s very important; I\u2019m thinking of my family, my parents and my children. Then I also see farmers like me, living in poverty, and they are the ones facing climate change. People who haven\u2019t contributed to climate change are suffering the consequences of climate change.<\/p>\n
I truly hope, with this lawsuit, the glaciers don\u2019t melt completely. In some way, their melting rate will be reduced. If the glaciers disappear, it would be a disaster; it would be very tragic for all of us who depend on the mountains, both for farmers and in the city. The mountains and the glaciers are what feed the springs in the valleys far below the mountains. In the city, we also use the water that comes down from the mountains.<\/p>\n
The mountains are a whole world. A very different world from what you see on the farm or in the city. I just hope the mountains don\u2019t disappear completely. That\u2019s what I hope and want.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sa\u00fal, a Quechua-speaking mountain guide, farmer and father who lives in the Andean highlands, was the lead plaintiff…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-284604","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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