Ecobreves – PERU:: New Anti-Desertification Center Announced

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

LIMA, Mar 27 2004 (IPS) - Peru's National Human Resources Institute (INRENA) is working with Brazil to set up a Regional Anti-Desertification Center, which will include the other countries that share the tropical forests of the Amazon. The efforts of the new center will be guided by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

INRENA chief Cesar Alvarez made the announcement on Mar. 22, on the occasion of World Water Day.

“By preventing depredation from turning the Amazon forests into deserts we will contribute to preventing the rapid advance of the reduction of rainfall, a factor that, along with demographic growth, is generating the world water crisis,” he said.

Peru is on its way to the critical point of water shortage, “which will occur approximately in 2025 if the necessary preventative measures are not adopted immediately… such as fighting the salinization of underground water and optimizing the use of water in irrigation and urban consumption,” said Alvarez.