Peru Environment - 2021

Environment - current issues

deforestation (some the result of illegal logging); overgrazing of the slopes of the costa and sierra leading to soil erosion; desertification; air pollution in Lima; pollution of rivers and coastal waters from municipal and mining wastes; overfishing

Environment - international agreements

party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 24.27 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 57.41 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 30.17 megatons (2020 est.)

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 2.797 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

industrial: 206.6 million cubic meters (2017 est.)

agricultural: 13.1 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

Total renewable water resources

1,879,800,000,000 cubic meters (2017 est.)

Climate

varies from tropical in east to dry desert in west; temperate to frigid in Andes

Land use

agricultural land: 18.8% (2018 est.)

arable land: 3.1% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 1.1% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 14.6% (2018 est.)

forest: 53% (2018 est.)

other: 28.2% (2018 est.)

Revenue from forest resources

forest revenues: 0.12% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

coal revenues: 0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 78.3% of total population (2020)

rate of urbanization: 1.33% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Major infectious diseases

degree of risk: very high (2020)

food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever

vectorborne diseases: dengue fever, malaria, and Bartonellosis (Oroya fever)

note: widespread ongoing transmission of a respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is occurring throughout Peru; as of 19 July 2021, Peru has reported a total of 2,093,754 cases of COVID-19 or 6,350.13 cumulative cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 population with 591.86 cumulative deaths per 100,000 population; as of 18 July 2021, 20.6% of the population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 8,356,711 tons (2014 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually: 334,268 tons (2012 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled: 4% (2012 est.)