As glaciers melt, tourism dries up in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca

Meltwater from fast-disappearing glaciers also is eating into newly exposed rock in the Cordillera Blanca mountains, turning the water rushing downstream acidic – sometimes as much as lemon juice, making it undrinkable, said John All, a climate researcher and director of the Mountain Environments Research Institute at Western Washington University.

“You find cows and other livestock dead in the pasture from just drinking the water they always have,” said All, who also heads the American Climber Science Program, which conducts conservation-focused research in remote and mountain environments.