Just three percent of the Peruvians consulted in a recent survey consider the environment a priority in political matters. However, 85.4 percent of those polled said pollution of air and water, and waste management, are problems that need urgent action.

It is somewhat of a paradox, revealing the importance the population places upon social and economic problems, like unemployment and poverty, in addition to a high level of awareness about environmental phenomena, says the independent polling firm Cuando, entrusted by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Forty-seven percent of poll respondents blamed their own communities for environmental problems, 20.7 percent said industry was responsible, 19.6 percent said it was the central government's problem, and 7.9 said it was the local government.