El Alto Bolivia

New York Times article “In Bolivia, Water and Ice Tell A Story of a Changing Climate” printed on Monday December 14th 2009 speaks of the threat of global warming. The threat in El Alto Bolivia deals with melting glaciers and the receding of the Milluni reservoir. The Glaciers provide parts of Bolivia with water and electricity. Some fear with the melting and possible disappearance of the glaciers could bring an end to some communities, such as El Alto. El Alto, a “poor sister city” of La Paz, could perhaps “be the first large urban casualty of climate change”. This fear of receding glaciers threatens more than El Alto. The existent climate change occurring threaten many glaciers in the Andes. A report made by World Bank suggests that the glaciers of the Andes could be eliminated somewhere in the next twenty years. A suggestion that threatens roughly one hundred million people. The glaciers receding and what will be done to help these poor countries dealing with a major crisis of what to do about water supply is a topic for debate in Copenhagen. Poor countries are asking for economical support from the rich countries. The United Sates and the European Union have both offered to give their share of support. The European Union made a pledge to pay at least 3.5 billion dollars. However the estimated price needed to support these poor countries in danger has been projected by economists to be one hundred billion dollars if not more than that. It is countries like Bolivia that have been the voice of poor nations being threatened by potentially climate induced catastrophes that have made demands from the wealthier nations and have even suggested that the poor countries stage a walk out in Copenhagen if they do not receive enough support from the wealthy countries. Climate change is occurring more rapidly than we once may have thought. Edson Ramirez, a Bolivian glaciologist, said he had predicted that one glacier, known as Chacaltaya, would disappear by the year 2020. However the Chacaltaya disappeared this year. The effects of global warming are evident and more threatening now, and not just a threat to come in the future. A decision must be made if the wealthy countries will help places like El Alto Bolivia survive or if the money would just add to what Todd Stern, lead negotiator for the United States, calls climate debt.