In the freezing altitudes of the Andes Mountains, where the great rivers that feed the planet’s largest basin originate, the rapid melting of glaciers threatens water supply for millions of people and compromises the stability of Amazonian ecosystems. In the Peruvian Andes, the birthplace of the Amazon River, glacial loss has already reached 56% over the past six decades. In Bolivia, glaciers have shrunk by 43% in the last 30 years. Given this scenario, the Amazon Basin Project – SAP Implementation (ACTO/UNEP/GEF) is supporting monitoring in both regions to measure the speed of this loss and to support strategies that ensure the water security of populations dependent on this essential resource. Three monitoring stations are already operational in Bolivia, and four more of these climate sentinels will be installed in Peru.
The interventions are carried out in partnership with national governments and universities, involving traditional communities in the areas where the stations are being established. These areas, primarily engaged in agriculture and livestock rearing, are directly impacted by glacial retreat. They rely on monitoring data to understand variations in water availability and develop adaptation alternatives to ensure its efficient use.
“Having access to information and working side by side with the government to reduce waste and improve water quality is essential for the security of our families, crops, and livestock,"
says Juan Vilcalca, a leader of the Andean community of Pacaje, Peru, after participating in an awareness workshop organized by the National Water Authority (ANA).
The accelerated loss of Andean glaciers has led to a severe water crisis, significantly affecting the economy and the lives of millions of people. In 2016, Bolivia faced its worst drought in 25 years. Seven out of Bolivia's ten main cities suffered water scarcity, affecting more than 125,000 families, damaging 290,000 hectares of agricultural land, and impacting 360,000 head of cattle. In the capital, La Paz, and its neighboring city, El Alto, both of which rely heavily on glaciers to supply water to their 1,6 million inhabitants, a hundred neighborhoods experienced water restrictions for over a month.
Glacial retreat has become a constant threat to the water security of these two cities nestled in the Andes. In the nearby traditional communities, where the Andes hold sacred value, the devastating impacts of the glacial melt have altered ways of life and livelihoods. Héctor Choquehuanca, 68, a farmer from the Quiñuma community, witnessed the ancient glacier that covered the Hampaturi mountain disappear during the 2016 drought.
“Since then, we've stopped planting, and our livestock has dwindled due to the lack of water,”
he says.
In Peru, where 20 million people benefit from the water of the Andean glaciers, the reduction of these reserves threatens water supplies, agriculture, and livestock farming, compromising food security and local livelihoods, and increasing the risk of natural disasters such as floods and landslides.
The effects of this phenomenon extend throughout the entire Amazon Basin. The reduction in glaciers has a direct impact on the flow of the rivers that supply the region, potentially reducing water discharge by up to 20% and worsening both droughts and floods. At the same time, environmental degradation in the Amazon is exacerbating this crisis. Soot from fires in the Amazon, known as black carbon, accelerates the melting of glaciers, creating a cycle of degradation that threatens aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, as well as the water security of millions of people.
Monitoring the retreat of glaciers is crucial for ensuring the sustainable availability of water and preserving the Andean and Amazonian ecosystems. In Bolivia, data collected by the Institute of Hydraulics and Hydrology (IHH) at the University of San Andrés is aiding in the development of a management model aimed at improving water use and preventing crises similar to the one experienced in 2016. Furthermore, this monitoring will help protect four Amazonian micro-basins from reduced water flow, which could threaten local ecosystems and the livelihoods that depend on them.
In Peru, four monitoring stations will be installed in the Vilcanota and Carabaya mountain ranges. These ranges are home to the headwaters of rivers essential to the Amazon Basin and the water supply of more than 1.3 million people. The goal is to strengthen the resilience of cities and communities affected by glacial retreat, enabling the planning of measures to ensure future water supply.
These actions are part of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization's strategy for the shared management of the Amazon Basin's water resources by the eight riparian countries, using the Source-to-Sea approach. This concept considers the basin as a systemic whole, from its Andean headwaters to the Atlantic Ocean, promoting regional cooperation to address water challenges and mitigate the impacts of extreme climate events.
About the Amazon Basin SAP Implementation Project
Since 2021, the Amazon Basin SAP Implementation Project has been supporting the eight member countries of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) in implementing the Strategic Action Program (SAP) and promoting Integrated Water Resources Management in the Amazon Basin in a source-to-sea continuum. Based on the SAP strategic response lines, the project aims at institutionally strengthening water governance in the eight Amazonian countries and at the regional level, building community resilience, and protecting aquatic ecosystems to address climate change, as well as monitoring water resources and ecosystems through a Regional Environmental Monitoring System.
The project is implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), with financing from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and executed by ACTO.
For more information on the Amazon Basin SAP Implementation Project, please contact the Project Manager, Maria Apostolova (maria.apostolova@otca.org), or the Project Communication Specialist, Nina Rodrigues (nina.rodrigues@otca.org).
© 2026 IW:LEARN
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