Citing melting glaciers, Peruvian farmer tests global climate law

By Alfredo Galarza, Alexander Villegas and Riham Alkousaa

HUARAZ, Peru (Reuters) - In the high Andes of northern Peru, the morning sun rises over glaciers in the Cordillera Blanca mountains that loom above the city of Huaraz, an awe-inspiring sight tainted by fears of a growing threat of meltwater floods.

The glaciers are at the center of a landmark global case that will test the legal culpability of corporations over their greenhouse gas emissions and the role these play in climate change that is leading to more extreme weather around the world.

Saul Luciano Lliuya, a Huaraz farmer and mountain guide, is suing German energy firm RWE, demanding that it help pay for defenses and flood mitigation for the city, tied to the company's share of global manmade greenhouse gas emissions that he alleges have led to faster-melting glaciers.

The case will start on Monday at the Higher Regional Court of Hamm in Germany, with lawyers for Lliuya alleging RWE is responsible for 0.5% of global emissions and should therefore pay 0.5%, or some 17,000 euros ($18,500) of a local $3.5 million flood defense project. 

"We didn't start out with a lot of hope, but now it's caused a lot of attention," Lliuya told Reuters near his home in a hilly region outside Huaraz where he grows corn. Lliuya, who is backed by Germanwatch, an activist group that advocates for the environment and other issues, said he wants to set a precedent for polluting companies to pay for projects that mitigate the impact of climate change.

"The company has polluted and it should take responsibility for its emissions," he said.

RWE says the complaint is unfounded and that a single emitter cannot be held responsible for global warming.

"This lawsuit is an attempt to set a precedent whereby every single emitter of greenhouse gases in Germany could be held legally responsible for the effects of climate change worldwide," the firm said in a statement.

"We believe that this is legally inadmissible and also the wrong approach from a socio-political perspective."

The case, which is based on a section of the German civil law code relating to property interference, was dismissed by a lower court and appealed by Lliuya to the higher court in Hamm.

'RIVER IS ALWAYS GROWING'

In the mountains above Huaraz, glacier meltwater has swollen Lake Palcacocha, whose volume grew 34 times from 1974 to 2016. That creates a threat for Huaraz, which has a population of over 65,000, significantly larger than when the last major flooding disaster struck in 1941. 

"The river is always growing, who wouldn't be afraid?" said Nestor Acuna, a Huaraz resident who lives near the Quilcay river that could burst its banks if Lake Palcacocha overflows.

"Sometimes we have family over and when it's the rainy season we're afraid the river will overflow or there will be a landslide," he added.

When Reuters spoke to Acuna in mid-March, the government had shut down roads around the lake due to a landslide and rains. The lake is closely monitored by authorities, and a dam and drainage pipes have been installed to lower its water levels, but some government officials say more infrastructure is needed to protect Huaraz.

Peru is home to nearly 70% of the world's tropical glaciers, considered at high risk due to being constantly near or at melting temperature. They play a key role in water supply, storing snowfall during colder months and providing water in summer.

Peru's latest glacier inventory in 2023 showed the country had lost over half its glaciers in the last six decades due to climate change. The Ancash, the region Huaraz is located in, has 26 lagoons that present a flooding risk, the report found. The Cordillera Blanca, popular for hiking and mountaineering, has experienced rapid glacial retreat and increasingly dangerous conditions. 

"The glacial melt is really visible, every year you visit the glacier is retreating even more," Lliuya said. As well as the flooding risk, in the longer term that would lead to drinking-water supply problems, he said.

"It worries us, saddens us, that we're losing our glaciers."

Roda Verheyen, Lliuya's lawyer, said being able to present their findings made the case already a win, no matter the outcome.

"Even if we lose... we will finally get all the reasoning, I hope," she told reporters at a briefing. "That means that we can actually build on that in further cases, either us directly or other people."

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(Reporting by Alfredo Galarza in Huaraz, Alexander Villegas in Santiago and Riham Alkousaa in Berlin; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)