CRI听力:Melting of Glaciers to Top UN Climate Talks Agenda for November

Peru is home to the Quelccaya ice cap, the largest tropical glacier on Earth that is located at approximately 5100m above sea level.

But it is shrinking.

The Andean nation has 71 percent of the world's tropical glaciers, but the Peruvian glaciers have lost more than a fifth of their mass in just three decades.

This is putting severe stress as pastures and croplands dry up and the planting cycle has become more erratic with severe cold spells freezing the crops.

Peruvian Minister of Environment Manuel Pulgar Vidal says the international community needs to take urgent steps to prevent the loss of glaciers due to climate change

"Peru definitely faces the consequences of climate change, and water is the issue where we have more work to do. Because we still rely heavily on hydropower, which faces a lack of water, it may mean some difficulties in the future."

The Peruvian capital Lima is the world's second-largest desert capital after Cairo in Egypt, and its 10 million inhabitants depend on glacial runoff for their water supply.

Shrinking glaciers have already put immense pressure on the city that is already suffering from frequent water shortages.

Residents are complaining on the lack of reliable access to drinking water.

"It is the only truck that comes here and sometimes they don't even come and we don't have water for 15 to 20 days."

Latin America and the Caribbean cause less than 10 percent of global emissions.

An earlier World Bank report had says that global climate change threatens to wipe out Andes' tropical glaciers within the next 20 years, putting precious water, energy and food sources at risk.

When global leaders meet in Paris in November to set emissions targets, the issue of disappearing glaciers will again come to the spotlight.

For CRI I am Huang Shan.