Peruvian farmer squares up to German power giant in climate lawsuit
In Peru’s snow-capped Cordillera Blanca mountains, fast-melting glaciers are pushing the cobalt waters of Lake Palcacocha dangerously high, raising fears it could overflow and send a huge wave of water and mud crashing to the town of Huaraz below.
Huaraz farmer and mountain guide Saúl Luciano Lliuya, who blames the world’s biggest emitters for the warmer temperatures shrinking the glaciers, will appeal his civil case on Monday against German utility RWE, which he thinks should contribute to reinforcing the lake – even though it has no operations in Peru.
“The glacial melt is very fast there and some glaciers are about to disappear due to global warming,” Luciano, a 38-year-old father of two, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by telephone from Germany.
photo credit: twiga269 ॐ FEMEN