Systems of Operation: Photos

Monday, May 5, 2008

Climate Changes, So Does My Life

From May 1 to 31, the city of Lima is hosting the photo exhibition Climate changes, so does my life, which shows the impact climate change is starting to have in different Peruvian communities.

The images were taken by photographer Thomas Mueller, who travelled through 13 regions in the Peruvian coast, mountains and forest, speaking with countrymen, fishermen, artisans and community leaders in 29 cities. Every picture is accompanied by a testimony, in which the person says what's changing in their everyday life thanks to the shift in seasons, water availability, and alike.

Maximo Crispin Mandura, inhabitant from the Ausangate community, Cusco

"When the Ausangate mountain is cloudy, we're happy and we offer our coca. We are grateful because it's beginning to cover with snow again. This mountain keeps our water, which we will need from June until November for our sowing season. Rain used to start in October, but now it only does in December, and this doesn't provide enough time for the potato and the oquita to ripen. We're building an irrigation channel and we pray for the Ausangate to stay snowed."

Samuel Francisco Adrianzen Ramirez, countryman at Morropon, Piura region

"This looks like the same water we used to have, but it's not. In my farm, we've had to drill a well because the Chira channel is not enough for everybody. The problem is that every day there are more people with right to use the water to irrigate, but less water from the channel. The region of Piura is drying. We're discussing in the community if the water will be enough, I think for that to happen we'll have to drop the rice cultivation and increase the use of technology in the irrigation. That's why we've started to sow kidney bean. Rice is history at Morropon*."
(*) Morropon is a village inside the Piura region.