Peru Environment - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Environment - current issues

deforestation (some the result of illegal logging); overgrazing 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.)

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.)

Urbanization

urban population: 78.7% of total population (2022)

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

total population growth rate v. urban population growth rate, 2000-2030

Revenue from forest resources

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

Revenue from coal

coal revenues: 0% of GDP (2018 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 9 December 2022, Peru has reported a total of 4,330,521 cases of COVID-19 or 13,134 cumulative cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 population with a total of 217,566 cumulative deaths or a rate of 659.85 cumulative deaths per 100,000 population; as of 6 December 2022, 88.51% 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.)

Major lakes (area sq km)

fresh water lake(s): Lago Titicaca (shared with Bolivia) - 8,030 sq km

Major rivers (by length in km)

Amazon river source (shared with Brazil [m]) - 6,400 km
note – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth

Major watersheds (area sq km)

Atlantic Ocean drainage: Amazon (6,145,186 sq km)

Major aquifers

Amazon Basin

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

1.88 trillion cubic meters (2017 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding Peru on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Peru 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Peru 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.