Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Russian Ministry of Defense: 37 Ukrainian drones destroyed in 4 hours over regions of Russia and the Black Sea.
Sheikh Qassem: Our supporters make up more than half of Lebanon's population, and all of these people are united under the banner of protecting Lebanon, its Resistance, its people, and its integrity.
Sheikh Qassem: There will be no phased handing in of our arms. [The Israelis] must first enact the agreement before we start talking about a defensive strategy.
Sheikh Qassem: Be brave in the face of foreign pressures, and we will be by your side in this stance.
Sheikh Qassem: Stripping us of our arms is like stripping us of our very soul, and this will prompt us to show them our might.
Sheikh Qassem: We will not abandon our arms, for they gave us dignity; we will not abandon our arms, for they protect us against our enemy.
Sheikh Qassem: The US efforts we are seeing are aimed at sabotaging Lebanon and constitute a call for sedition.
Sheikh Qassem: If you truly want to establish sovereignty and work for Lebanon’s interests, then stop the aggression.
Sheikh Qassem: The United States, which is meddling in Lebanon, is not trustworthy but rather poses a danger to it.
Sheikh Qassem: The United States is preventing the weapons that protect the homeland.

Climate change effect on Peruvian glaciers taken to German court

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 28 May 2022 11:41
4 Min Read

A local farmer accuses RWE of endangering his home by contributing to global warming.

  • x
  • Climate change effect on Peruvian glaciers debated in German court.
    Climate change effect on Peruvian glaciers debated in a German court

German judges and specialists have gathered at the brink of a melting glacier high in the Peruvian Andes to investigate a case filed by a local farmer accusing energy giant RWE of endangering his home by contributing to global warming.

The nine-member delegation's travel to the region is the next step in a lawsuit that the plaintiffs hope will set a new global standard.

Saul Luciano Lliuya, a 41-year-old Peruvian farmer living in the mountains near Huaraz, is leading the call for "climate justice".

He has filed a lawsuit against the German utility RWE, alleging that its greenhouse gas emissions are to blame for the melting of neighboring glaciers.

The journey was ordered by the Higher Regional Court in Hamm, northern Germany, where Lliuya filed his claim against RWE after his case was dismissed by another court in Essen.

Read next: Greenland is Melting 3 Times Faster

The delegation must assess the threat that melting glaciers pose to Huaraz and its 120,000 residents below the Palcacocha glacier.

"In general they have polluted all over the world and with this claim, we are trying to do something," said Lliuya. RWE operates in 27 countries in the world, including Chile and Brazil, but not Peru.

The claim "was rejected in the first instance because it did not have any legal basis and did not respect German civil law," RWE spokesman Guido Steffen told AFP.

Related News

UN warns of urgent need to shield workers from heat

Over 150 missing in Northwest Pakistan after monsoon rains

"We are confident this will happen again with the appeal."

Lliuya and Germanwatch met in Lima in 2014 during the COP20 climate change summit, after which the German NGO's activists traveled to Huaraz to negotiate a prospective claim in Germany.

Feeling 'impotent'

Lliuya's greatest concern is that the melting glaciers would cause the Palcacocha lake to overflow.

The massive blue-turquoise lake is below the Palcaraju and Pucaranra glaciers in the Huascaran national park at an elevation of 4,650 meters (15,000 feet) and might flood Huaraz below if its banks burst.

"As a farmer and citizen I don't want these glaciers to disappear, they're important," said Lliuya.

However, he claims to be "impotent" because "you know you're in a risk zone, and there are businesses and industries that have caused this."

Lliuya's family consists of his wife and two children. Their kitchen is equipped with a few utensils and a large tree trunk that acts as a dining table.

That said, he expressed his concern that a drought in the subsurface aquifers may jeopardize local agriculture and Huaraz's water supply.

Battle in German courts

RWE was sued in 2015, and the German business prevailed in the first instance the following year. However, in 2017, the Hamm court consented to hear the case.

The experts' visit, which was scheduled for 2019, was pushed back due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Germanwatch and Lliuya want RWE to cover the costs of protecting Huaraz from flooding.

"This case refers to our historic emissions of greenhouse gases, and we have always complied with governmental limits, including our carbon dioxide emissions," said RWE, which has stated a goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2040.

Peru has lost 51% of its glaciers in the previous 50 years, according to the national water authority in 2020.

Read next: Peru bans Repsol CPO form leaving for 18 months over oil spill

  • Climate change
  • Germany
STOP THE HEAT: A Climate Change Coverage

STOP THE HEAT: A Climate Change Coverage

Most Read

Tom Artiom Alexandrovich, executive director of the defense division of the Israeli National Cyber Directorate, undated (Social media)

Israeli-born US prosecutor drops Israeli officer child sex crime

  • Politics
  • 19 Aug 2025
Almost instantly after the Helsinki Accords were signed, organisations sprouted to document purported violations, whose findings were fed to overseas embassies for international amplification. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)

How ‘Human Rights’ became a Western weapon

  • Opinion
  • 23 Aug 2025
Israeli soldiers stand on the top of armoured vehicles parked on an area near the Israeli-Gaza border, as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025 (AP)

Palestinian fighters target Israeli soldiers, vehicles in Gaza

  • Politics
  • 21 Aug 2025
Launch of a ballistic missile from Yemen toward the occupied Palestinian territories. (YAF military media)

Yemeni Forces announce firing hypersonic missile at Al-Lydd Airport

  • Politics
  • 22 Aug 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference at the Prime minister's office in al-Quds, Occupied Palestine, Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Netanyahu deliberately derailing truce with Gaza occupation: Hamas

Irish President Michael Higgins arrives to deliver his speech during a 42nd World Food Day celebration at FAO headquarters in Rome, on Oct. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Politics

Irish president renews call for UN military intervention in Gaza

US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the US Embassy in Aukar, northern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, July 21, 2025 (AP)
Politics

US envoy, Netanyahu discuss restraining attacks on Lebanon, withdrawal

Smoke billows following Israeli airstrikes in multiple areas in Sanaa, Yemen, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Ansar Allah vow sustained Gaza support despite Israeli strikes

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS