Bolivia’s Glaciers Are Melting Away

El Alto, La Paz:
Climate Change Leads to Water Shortages in Bolivia

According to recent research many of the Andes’ tropical glaciers could disappear within 20 years, potentially threatening the water supplies of millions of people in the region, and significantly reducing hydropower production, which accounts for roughly half of the electricity generated in Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador.


Scientists monitoring the glaciers in the Andes say the glaciers are showing signs of melting faster than previously projected. When the melting rate is faster than the accumulation of snow, glaciers lose mass and no longer produce a steady flow of water. (Photos: Johannes M Luetz)



There has been a growing concern for the future of steady water supplies in some of Latin America’s fastest-growing urban conglomerates – Bolivia’s sprawling twin cities of La Paz and El Alto. In face of rapid population growth and a combination of glacial retreat and reduced rainfall, duty bearers (e.g. the Governor of La Paz, Pablo Ramos) have already suggested moving people to other parts of Bolivia.

Recently published literature suggests that growing water stress could contribute to forced migration in regions dependent on steady water supplies from glaciers in the Andes. This possibility was corroborated in my view during a recent visit. In Bolivia’s Chaco region climate change-related droughts are already inducing thousands of peasant families to migrate to the cities.