A farmer and a melting glacier: Why German judges are on a trip to Peru скачать в хорошем качестве

A farmer and a melting glacier: Why German judges are on a trip to Peru

On November 24, 2015, a Peruvian farmer, Saúl Luciano Lliuya filed a case against the energy giant RWM with a regional court in Essen, Germany where the company is headquartered. The context of the case was simple. The Palcacocha glacier is rapidly melting and Saúl Lliuya claims that emissions from the company have contributed to the melting of glaciers in the Andes. Saúl’s biggest fear is that the vast lake at an altitude of 4,650 meters will break its banks and drown the city of Huaraz, Peru. After 7 years of legal battle, in May 2022, a nine-member delegation of German judges and experts arrived at the Palcacocha glacier to assess the risk this poses for the 120,000 people living downstream. So for the first time, a link between the company's contribution to global warming and threats to Huaraz was declared legally relevant. The legal battle had a rough beginning: On December 16, 2016, the Essen court ruled that the lawsuit seeking damages for melting glaciers by the Peruvian farmer is unfounded. But Saul was not ready to give up. He appealed again in November 2017 and this time the Higher Regional Court in Hamm ruled that the case was well-founded and ordered the latest inspection to gather evidence. A Climate justice organization called Germanwatch also helped Saul to get the necessary legal advice. According to Germanwatch, RWE is the second-largest emitter of carbon dioxide in Europe, spewing more than 100 million tonnes into the atmosphere each year. A majority of the tropical glaciers worldwide are located in the Peruvian Andes. The country has lost nearly 8 gigatonnes of ice from 2000 to 2016 with 170 glaciers covering an area equivalent to 80,000 soccer fields. The increase in glacier melting is damaging crops and forcing farmers in the region to resort to flood defence measures which is an additional financial burden. As the climate crisis intensifies, many people such as Saul are coming out to fight against the Goliath polluters of the world. Since 2015, plaintiffs, including children, have filed more than 1,000 climate cases against mass polluters. Climate activists are hoping that this case will set a global precedent for multiple lawsuits that local residents have filed against industrial giants all over the world.