In the upper Andes of Northern Peru, the morning sun rises on the glaciers in the Cordile Blanca mountain, which is the loom above the city of Huraz, which is an amazing vision that melts in a melted sight, which is of fear of increasing threat of melted water floods.
The glaciers are at the center of a historical global matter that will test the legal conviction of corporations on their greenhouse gas emissions and these roles in climate change that leads to more extreme weather worldwide.
Saul is sueing Luciano Laliyu, a hauraz farmer and mountain guide, German energy firm RWE, demanding that it helps to pay for the city for rescue and flood mitigation, which is tied to the company of the company of global man -made greenhouse gas emissions, which he has alleged that he gives rise to rapid melting glashiers.
The case will begin on Monday in Ham’s High Regional Court in Germany, alleging LLIUYA lawyers that RWE is responsible for 0.5% of global emissions and should be paid 0.5% of the local $ 3.5 million flood defense project, or some 17,000 euros ($ 18,500).
“We have not started with great expectation, but now it has paid a lot of attention,” Liuya told Reuters near his house in a mountainous area outside Huraz that he grows corn. LLIUYA, who is supported by Germanwatch, wanted to set an example for polluting companies to pay for projects that reduce the impact of climate change.
“The company has polluted and should take responsibility for its emission,” he said.
RWE says that the complaint is baseless and a single emitter cannot be held responsible for global warming.
The firm said in a statement, “The lawsuit is an attempt to set an example, allowing every emitter of greenhouse gases in Germany to be legally responsible for the effects of climate change worldwide.”
“We believe it is legally unfair and also a wrong approach from a socio-political point of view.”
The case, which is based on a section of the German Civil Law Code, related to the property intervention, was rejected by a lower court and appealed by LLIUYA to the High Court in Hmm.
‘The river continues to grow’
In the mountains above Huraz, Glacier Meltwater has swollen Lake Palkococha, which has increased 34 times from 1974 to 2016. This pose a threat to Huraz, which has a population of more than 65,000, when the final major flood disaster occurred in 1941.
“The river always grows, who will not be afraid?” Nester Ekuna said, a Huraz resident who lives near the Kuilke River, who can burst his banks of Palkochococh Overflow Lake.
He said, “Sometimes we have a family and when it is a rainy season, we are afraid whether the river will flow or there will be a landslide.”
When Reuters spoke to Ekuna in mid -March, the government closed the roads around the lake due to landslides and rain. The lake is closely monitored by the authorities, and a dam and drainage pipes have been installed to reduce its water level, but some government officials say more infrastructure is required to protect Huraz.
Peru is a home of about 70% of the world’s tropical glaciers, which is considered at high risk due to continuous pass or melting temperature. They play an important role in water supply, storing snowfall during the cold months and providing water in summer.
In 2023, Peru’s latest glacier inventory showed that the country had lost more than half of its glaciers in the last six decades due to climate change. The report found that the region is located in the Huaraz, there are 26 lagoon, which presents the risk of floods. Cordilera Blanca, popular for hiking and mountaineering, has experienced rapid glacial retreat and rapidly dangerous conditions.
“Glassial melting is actually visible, every year you go to the glacier, even more back,” said Laliyu. Also, the risk of flood, in the long term which will lead to the problems of drinking water supply, he said.
“It worries us, makes us sad, that we are losing our glaciers.”
Roda Verhane, Laliyuya’s lawyer, said that being able to present his findings, the case already made a victory, it does not matter.
“Even if we lose … we will finally get all arguments, I hope,” he told reporters in a briefing. “This means that we can actually build on it in further matters, either directly or others.”
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