Chile’s Growing Desert Is Closing In on the Country’s Capital
Chile’s Growing Desert Is Closing In on the Country’s Capital
by Javiera Quiroga
July 6, 2015 — 4:00 AM CDT
Updated on July 6, 2015 — 11:22 AM CDT
Adolfo Cortes on his dry orchard near Ovalle. Photographer: Javiera Quiroga/Bloomberg
The world’s driest desert is expanding south and sitting in its path is Chile’s capital.
Santiago, a city of 7 million people 1,000 kilometers (622 miles) from the Atacama desert, is experiencing its driest year since 1966. Similar to California’s situation with the Sierra Nevadas, little to no snow has fallen in the Andes mountains that supply most of Santiago’s water.
“Climatic zones are shifting south,” University of Chile geography professor Francisco Ferrando said. “Santiago is likely to move to a condition of a desert or semi-desert. What is happening is probably associated with global warming and there’s no sign of it slowing.”
Santiago need only look 300 kilometers north to see how bad things can get as its drought continues for an eighth year amid record high global temperatures. Farmers in the once-fertile valleys of the Choapa and Limari rivers that lived for generations on agriculture are ripping up orchards, losing livestock and in some cases abandoning homes as wells dry and waterways slow to a trickle.
More:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-06/water-the-new-blue-gold-as-world-s-driest-desert-grows
Environment & Energy:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/112787876
