Mountain Partnership

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Peru

Mountains cover around 30% of national territory and extend over an area of roughly 39 million hectares. Some 35% of the Peruvian population live above 5,000 metres.

The Peruvian Andes are characterized by an unstable climate, a high level of biodiversity and fragile ecosystems. The Northern part of Peru is largely cloud-covered and is referred to as the equatorial or humid Andes. The rest of the country is known as the semi-arid Andes, with a dry season from May to November and a rainy season from December to April - where the plateaus, highlands and snow-capped mountains are the predominant scenery. An area amounting to 64% of mountain territory is protected, about 3% is cultivated and 27% is used for grazing.

There are around 12,000 lakes and 15,000 different plant species in the Peruvian Andes and their tropical rain forests. These mountain regions are also one of the most mineralized zones in the world, with important deposits of copper, lead zinc, silver and gold.

Given that the mountain slopes are generally very steep, the process of erosion is even more rapid. Several million tons of soil are lost each year and this in turn affects the capacity of the regular water flow. Aside from problems of soil erosion and desertification Peru lists many other priority concerns in the management of its mountain territories, namely: the loss of biodiversity, the negative impact of mining on delicate mountain ecosystems, extreme poverty and food insecurity and the need to develop mountain products and tourism that benefits local communities.

Peru is the headquarters of the Andean Community of Nations which groups together five Andean countries, as well as the Partnership for Sustainable Development of the Andean Ecoregion (CONDESAN), and the Latin American node of the Mountain Forum.

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