Climate Change and Water Resources in Arid Mountains: An Example from the Bolivian Andes

Abstract

Climate change is projected to have a strongly negative effect on water supplies in the arid mountains of South America, significantly impacting millions of people. As one of the poorest countries in the region, Bolivia is particularly vulnerable to such changes due to its limited capacity to adapt. Water security is threatened further by glacial recession with Bolivian glaciers losing nearly half their ice mass over the past 50 years raising serious water management concerns. This review examines current trends in water availability and glacier melt in the Bolivian Andes, assesses the driving factors of reduced water availability and identifies key gaps in our knowledge of the Andean cryosphere. The lack of research regarding permafrost water sources in the Bolivian Andes is addressed, with focus on the potential contribution to mountain water supplies provided by rock glaciers.

Introduction

It is expected that continued climate change will reduce water security in arid mountain regions globally (Beniston 2003; Barnett et al. 2005; Kundzewiz et al. 2008). In the South American Andes this is a clear threat to livelihoods (Bradley et al. 2006; IPCC 2007a; Painter 2007; Vuille et al. 2008; Chevallier et al. 2011). Changes to water supply are predicted through changes in temperature and precipitation patterns and glacier recession (Vuille et al. 2003; Vergara et al. 2007a), negatively affecting water availability (Magrin et al. 2007). Future temperature increases in the tropical Andes are projected to be of a similar magnitude to those in the Arctic (Fig. 1a), with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicting a maximum warming of 7.5 °C by 2080 using all climate change scenarios (Magrin et al. 2007) (Fig. 1b). However, in the Andes the consequences of this warming will directly affect a greater population (Vergara 2009) with an estimated population size of 30 times that of the Arctic (Bogoyavlenskiy and Siggner 2004; Galarza and Gómez 2011). In conjunction with predicted decreasing water supplies, increases in water demand are anticipated from a continually growing population in Latin America (Bradley et al. 2006; Painter 2007; Jeschke 2009). These changes to water supplies have critical negative impacts on water security, affecting environmental, economic and social systems (Bradley et al. 2006; Bigas et al. 2012).

Fig. 1.

a Visual representation of predicted global warming (adapted from Bradley et al. 2006, p. 1755). Projected changes in mean annual free-air temperatures between (1990–1999) and (2090–2099) along transect from Alaska (68°N) to southern Chile (50°S) using the mean of eight different Global Climate Models (IPCC using CO₂ levels from scenario A2). Black triangles symbolize the highest mountains for each latitude; with the highest air temperature change predicted, the South American Andes are circled. b Temperature and precipitation changes over South America from the MMD-A1B simulations (IPCC 2007a, p. 895). Top row (i) Annual mean, (ii) December January February, and (iii) June July August temperature change between 1980–1999 and 2080–2099, averaged over 21 models. Bottom row shows the same as top, but for fractional change in precipitation

A review of current understanding of water resources and the main contributors and drivers of change is required to gather information for future projections and management. This paper focuses on future water security in dry mountain regions, using Bolivia as a case study due to its vulnerability and sensitivity to the impacts of climate change. There is relatively little scientific research on water resources, climate change, sustainability and resource management for many arid regions of the world, and this is particularly the case for the Bolivian Andes. This paper attempts to address this by identifying the driving factors of reduced water availability and outlining existing gaps in our understanding and knowledge. The paper provides an agenda for future research to aid water resources management in arid glaciated mountains.

Andean Water Resources: A Bolivian Perspective

Mountain regions are likely to experience the impacts of a changing environment more than lower lying regions (Fig. 1a) and with strong altitudinal gradients they offer unique opportunities to identify and analyse global change processes and phenomena (Becker and Bugmann 1999). As a result, regions such as the Bolivian Andes should be considered as important areas to study the effects of hydrological, cryospheric and ecological changes associated with climate change.

Many large cities in the arid Andes are located above 2500 m and rely almost entirely on high-altitude water stocks such as glaciers and lakes to complement limited rainfall (Bradley et al. 2006) making them vulnerable to water scarcity caused by climate change (World Bank 2010). High levels of poverty and inequality, as well as its topographic situation (World Bank 2010; Winters 2012), mean that Bolivia is expected to be one of the countries most affected by continued reductions in water supplies and climate change (Winters 2012). Socioeconomic variables are important factors determining the ability to adapt and mitigate. It is estimated that 80 % of Bolivia’s rural population live in poverty and of this rural population, only 56 % have access to safe water (Jeschke et al. 2012). This vulnerable social group will be affected the worst as they are the most ill-equipped to deal with the impacts of climate change (Oxfam 2009).

The Bolivian administrative capital city of La Paz is situated on the Altiplano at higher than 3500 m above sea level and, including its rapidly growing adjacent city El Alto, supports a population of over 2.3 million in an arid environment (Vergara 2009; WMO 2011). Bolivia has distinct wet (November–April) and dry (May–October) seasons. During winter months, dry conditions prevail over the Altiplano. Based upon climate data from the Chacaltaya region (16°21′S, 68°08′W) in the Cordillera Real, 90 % of the annual precipitation (668 mm) falls during the summer wet season (Francou et al. 2003). The city relies upon this rainfall and glacier meltwater from the nearby Andean mountains, the Cordillera Real, as its two main sources of water for drinking, agriculture and energy generation (Jordon 2008; Vuille et al. 2008; Chevallier et al. 2011). It is estimated that the glaciers of the Cordillera Real supply between 12 and 40 % of potable water for the city, depending on seasonal variation (Vergara 2009; Soruco 2012); however, with current and predicted glacier recession (“Glacier Recession in the Andes”), this contribution to water supplies is expected to reduce (UNFCCC 2007).

Current urban water shortages in Bolivia represent a major social and economic problem (World Bank 2010). Restricted supplies occurred during the wet season of 2008 and again in 2009 (World Bank 2010). There are suggestions that continued water supply reductions in the Bolivian Andes will exacerbate droughts and increase competition and possible conflict, including social and economic conflicts (Magrath 2005; IPCC 2007a; Vuille 2007). Parallel with a predicted decrease in water availability, an increasing population is predicted to place higher demand on water supplies (Vanham and Rauch 2010; WMO 2011). Bolivia’s population reached 9.8 million by 2009, an increase of 21 % within a decade. This figure is expected to double by 2050 (Machicao and Garcia 2007). Over the past decade El Alto has expanded more rapidly than La Paz, with a growth rate of 8 % annually compared to La Paz’s 4 % annual increase (Water.org 2012), which in part is due to the restrictive physical shape of La Paz’s steep sided basin (Arbona and Kohl 2004). Population increase is a common pressure on water resources worldwide; however it is a factor which is often not fully considered in the scientific literature and in projections for future Andean water resources.

Climate Change

In the tropical Andes, mountain station records showed that annual average temperatures increased by 0.1 °C/decade between 1939 and 1998 (Fig. 2), higher than the global average rate of 0.06 °C/decade (Bradley et al. 2006; Vuille et al. 2008). Recent temperature increases have tripled in the Andes (~0.33 °C/decade from 1980 to 2005) (Barry 2005) and these, allied to changes in precipitation, consequently led to glacier recession across the whole of the Central Andes (Francou and Vincent 2007). However, there are few instrumental observations available above 4000 m where Andean glaciers exist and therefore the impact of recent temperature change on glacier behavior is poorly documented (Bradley et al. 2006).

Fig. 2.

Annual temperature deviation from the 1961–1990 average in the tropical Andes (1°N–23°S) between 1939 and 2006 based on a compilation of 279 station records (adapted from Vuille et al. 2008, p. 84). Black line shows long-term warming trend (0.10 °C/decade) based on ordinary least square regression

A changing climate is predicted to have serious consequences for the hydrological cycle in the Andes through temperature increase and changes to precipitation patterns (Barnett et al. 2005). Associated with current climate change, model projections suggest that the rate of warming in the lower troposphere is likely to increase with altitude, impacting high mountains (Bradley et al. 2006; Fig. 1a). Continued warming is projected across much of South America; IPCC model projections suggest warming of 0.4–1.8 °C by 2020 and 1.0–7.5 °C by 2080 (Magrin et al. 2007) (Fig. 1b). While many global climate models disagree on the extent and direction of the changes in precipitation for South America, a number of them predict considerable drying in the region (Magrin et al. 2007; Viviroli et al. 2011) (Fig. 1b).

Global and regional projections of precipitation rely on models which, due to their coarse spatial resolution, are not capable of resolving the fine spatial patterns in temperature and precipitation that exist over small areas in regions of high relief such as the Andes. As a result, climate change impacts are not well captured by these models in fine enough spatial resolution to allow adequate water supply planning to be undertaken (Vergara 2009). Furthermore, there is a difference in the spatial scale between data gained from global climate projections and data needed for water resource management (Buytaert et al. 2010). Climate models run at too coarse a resolution produce a smoothing out of local precipitation and temperature gradients which are important for many local hydrology processes. Therefore, the downscaling of climate projections is necessary (Buytaert et al. 2010).

Whilst acknowledging the uncertainties surrounding climate projections and the need for downscaling, current models do all forecast changes in precipitation patterns and increases in temperature. These changes will lead to continued glacier recession and will all significantly affect water availability in Bolivia.

Glacier Recession in the Andes

Glacier recession is seen as a clear visible reflection of recent climate change in mountain regions (Francou et al. 2003; Vuille et al. 2003, 2008; Mark et al. 2010) and continued recession will have negative impacts on water availability in the long term (Barnett et al. 2005). In the Andes field observations and historical records document the current pace of glacier recession (Vergara et al. 2007b), a process that has been occurring for the last 150 years. Over the past 30 years Bolivian glacier recession has accelerated in line with regional and global warming trends (Francou et al. 2003; Coudrain et al. 2005; Casassa et al. 2007; IPCC 2007a; Rabatel et al. 2013). Bolivian glaciologists have estimated that glaciers along the Cordillera Real range have lost roughly 48 % of their ice between 1963 and 2006 (Soruco et al. 2009), leading to the disappearance of many small glaciers already. This is illustrated by the well-documented retreat of the Chacaltaya glacier (Bolivia, 16°21′S, 68°07′W) which disappeared in 2009, 6 years earlier than predicted (Fig. 3a, b) (Ramirez et al. 2001; IPCC 2007a; Painter 2007; Vergara et al. 2007a).

Fig. 3.

a Graph showing the mass loss of ice from Chacaltaya during 1940–2009 in units of area and volume with its recession (data taken from Francou et al. 2000, p. 418). b Visual documented disappearance of the Chacaltaya glacier in Bolivia since 1940 through photography and modeling (taken from Vergara et al. 2007a, p. 5)

Glacier recession in the Andes is expected to happen quicker than in many other mountain regions (Bradley et al. 2006) and will particularly affect the smallest and lowest glaciers because they are the most vulnerable (Vuille et al. 2008; Chevallier et al. 2011). Small glaciers (<0.5 km²) are known to respond faster to changes in climate (Beniston 2003), and therefore are the most in danger of recession (Casassa et al. 2007); several have already disappeared in the region since their historic maximum extent (e.g., Chacaltaya). 80 % of the glaciers in the Cordillera Real mountain range in Bolivia are classified as small glaciers (Francou et al. 2003), and therefore are particularly vulnerable to continued warming. Glacier modeling, allied with climate projections, indicate that many of the lower-altitude glaciers are expected to disappear during the next 10–20 years (World Bank 2008), given continued warming.

Glacier recession is largely influenced by regional and local air temperature and precipitation, which determine the extent of the area of accumulation and ablation (Carrasco et al. 2005). The point at which this glacier accumulation is equal to the ablation is defined as the equilibrium line altitude (Coudrain et al. 2005). Observed glacier recession in the Andes is thought to be mainly in response to increasing temperatures resulting in an upward shift in the 0 °C isotherm and this equilibrium line altitude (Coudrain et al. 2005; Brown et al. 2008; Vergara 2009). An upward shift of the 0 °C isotherm (Diaz and Graham 1996; Carrasco et al. 2005) leads to increased melting and increased exposure of the glacier margins to rain instead of snow (Francou et al. 2004). However, although recent glacier recession is strongly correlated with rising atmospheric temperatures (Bradley et al. 2006; Mark et al. 2010), other meteorological parameters such as the effects of changes in humidity on glacier surface, energy balance, sublimation, and surface albedo are needed to explain observed trends in glacier recession (Coudrain et al. 2005). Glacier behavior in the Andes is also affected by changes in precipitation driven by El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) (Coudrain et al. 2005; Jeschke 2009). Phases of El Niño, which may be increasing in their frequency, are linked to higher sea surface temperatures and are related to negative glacier mass balance (Francou et al. 2003; Coudrain et al. 2005; Jeschke 2009). Even though melting glaciers will result in enhanced runoff in the short term, in the long term it will lead to water supply issues (Beniston 2003; Orlove et al. 2008).

Water Resource Management

Continued glacier melting and climate change raises serious water resource management concerns for arid mountainous regions (Bradley et al. 2006; Painter 2007; Jeschke 2009). By identifying the main drivers of reduced water security and the sectors and users impacted (Fig. 4) appropriate integrated strategies can be implemented and supported. This approach also helps to put water scarcity in a wider context to help promote a more holistic view on problems and solutions.

Fig. 4.

Network diagram outlining the drivers of Bolivian water scarcity and impact relationships (adapted from Stewart 2010). Gray circles represent drivers of reduced water availability and white circles represent the responses of reduced water availability and further impacts

Impacts of Water Scarcity

We use Fig. 4 to represent a simplified network diagram of the four main drivers of reduced water availability in Bolivia (glacier recession, climate change, poor infrastructure, and population increase) and the subsequent impacts. Future water conflicts are predicted to be more likely with decreased water security (IPCC 2007a; Vuille 2007), and there is a severe risk that conflicts over water availability in glacier-fed areas could increase in likelihood with lower water availability in the dry season (Painter 2007). For example, climate change poses new threats through changing precipitation and evaporation patterns, as well as temperature changes. This in turn can directly reduce water availability, affecting agriculture, drinking water, and power generation, adding stresses on livelihoods that can contribute towards migration.

Population increase incorporates a continuingly growing population as well as changes in population distribution with urbanization (Rossing 2010). Poor rural and urban communities are likely to be the most affected and least well-equipped to adapt to the impacts of water scarcity and climate change (Oxfam 2009; Rossing 2010). An increasing population places stress on water supplies, without the added interaction of climate change and glacier melt, through increasing demand for water for agriculture, drinking, and power generation. Hydroelectric power (HEP) is the major source of energy for numerous Andean cities (Bradley et al. 2006); La Paz depends heavily on HEP for its electricity which is powered by glacier melt water, mainly from two glacier ranges of the Cordillera Real: Zongo valley and Charquiri (Painter 2007). Although the volume of melt water initially increases with the recession of glaciers, once glaciers have disappeared, the lack of glacier melt water will have a negative impact on HEP production in Bolivia, as well as the increase in river sediment load characteristic of rivers draining rapidly deglaciating catchments. Accordingly, adaptation should incorporate methods to reduce Bolivia’s dependence on HEP and investment into other renewable energies is necessary to adapt for future glacier recession and disappearance. However, this can be costly, and might result in an increased dependence on fossil fuels (Bradley et al. 2006).

Common to a developing country, the water infrastructure is under-developed in Bolivia and storage capacity is low (World Bank 2010). Poor infrastructure constantly reduces the amount of water available from water pipes through leaks and the illegal action of tapping into pipes. It is probable that there is a high amount of non-revenue water lost through the inadequate water infrastructure in La Paz and El Alto (Farley and Liemberger 2005; Lee and Schwab 2005). Thus, key ways to increase usable water supplies can include repairing leaking pipes, reducing wastage and rehabilitating and updating existing water facilities. However, these changes are an expensive, time-consuming endeavor (Hays 2011) and need to be supported by an effective implementation of governance policies (Mejia 2012) and democratic involvement.

Potential Solutions

Physical infrastructural change is part of a large range of adaptive responses to water security suggested by the IPCC (2007b) which include technological (e.g., dams, infrastructure), policy (e.g., planning regulations), managerial (e.g., altered farming practices), and behavioral (e.g., altered food choices, changes in water use and waste) adaptations. Adaptation is seen as one of the best strategies to address changing climate issues and reduced water resources (IPCC 2007b); however, institutional, political, and financial constraints create barriers, limits and costs, restricting adaptation (Magrath 2005; IPCC 2007b; Viviroli et al. 2011) especially for developing countries (UNFCCC 2007). Most Andean governments are poorly equipped and have limited resources to deal with serious water challenges (Hays 2011). Adaption measures can be costly, so using the most appropriate approaches for water resource management will help countries adapt the most effectively.

For Bolivia, a holistic and country-specific approach can be recommended, including local level resource management. General water resource management advice and strategy may not always be appropriate for a specific country or on a regional level. For example, at the turn of the century the former Bolivian national government privatized the water system of the Andean city of Cochabamba following the advice of the World Bank in 1999. Water privatization was viewed as the best approach to cover the costs of the dam building, expansion of the water system, and maintenance. However, the Cochabamba water war that subsequently occurred in 2000 demonstrated the successful fight of the Cochabambinos to reverse this privatization of their water supply, but at the expense of civil unrest and violent conflict (Olivera and Lewis 2004).

For successful long-term solutions to water challenges it is now clear that an inter-disciplinary approach is required involving consultation, involvement, and exchange of expert knowledge of many different types including engineering, climate, population, politics, economics, ecology, farming, the community, and local cultures (Viviroli et al. 2011). The important role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), charities, governments, and research organizations should also be considered for their multi-disciplinary work, assistance for adaptation, resilience and increase in knowledge, and especially for their local knowledge. Successful water management and adaptation strategies should look to address problems at an integrated, local level. Resource management at local levels calls for greater cooperation between local government, civil society, and the private sector (Hay and Elliott 2008). For instance, community-based water resource management has been shown to be an effective way of empowering communities in certain arid environments, understanding their water resources and usage, and therefore manage them both directly and through influencing other levels of water governance (ICE 2011). Working on a community level, adaptation strategies can help strengthen the capacities and resilience of affected populations, such as mountain communities adapting to climate change. Physical adaptation for this can include the installation and use of low technology designs that can be replicated in the Andean communities and self-run through community organization to improve existing systems for management and distribution of water (such as channels, tanks, intakes, and water harvesting systems) and decrease the potential for conflict over water use by promoting cooperation among communities sharing water sources. Through consultation, inclusion, community-led local level resource management, cooperation can be increased (UN 2013) which can potentially decrease the risk of conflict.

Future Direction

To address the growing issue of water security in arid mountain regions, water companies, governments and policy makers need better knowledge and information on current and future projections for water supplies and at finer spatial resolutions than existing models can provide. This will allow them to anticipate water shortages and create physical and political infrastructure that could help compensate for reduced water availability (Magrath 2005). It is known that good decision making and policy development are dependent upon good information (WHO 2012).

To aid this knowledge base, research is needed on various key areas, with focus on local and regional scale implementation. Some example research areas for the Bolivian Andes include practical water conservation, better managed water use, low technology designs and schemes. For Bolivia, one of the first steps towards improving research is to gather data on all water sources contributing to the mountain hydrological cycle to increase the accuracy of water supply and availability projections. This includes identification, assessment, and monitoring of mountain water sources. Viviroli et al. (2011) highlight the importance of environmental monitoring at high altitudes and the general absence of observational data in the arid and semi-arid zones of the Tropics. This lack of observation and monitoring of climate systems limits the effectiveness of adaptation (IPCC 2007b). In Bolivia this lack of information and structure has been acknowledged, and there is now a move by the government meteorological office SENAMHI and NGOs to address this by increasing the number of meteorological stations across the Bolivian Andes and by developing a standardized collection of basic data on water levels and flow.

One example of a future research direction is explored further in this review; permafrost water resources. Currently, the identification and understanding of the importance of water sources other than ice glaciers in Bolivia, such as permafrost, is very limited.

Permafrost Water Resources

With continued glacier recession, there is a pressing need to better understand other sources of water from mountain ice storages. Permafrost exists in all mountain areas of sufficient elevation (Viviroli et al. 2011) (estimated between 4500 and 5000 m a.s.l. across the Bolivian Andes); however, critical gaps in present knowledge of the Andean mountain cryosphere exist (Azócar and Brenning 2010). For example, the importance of ice glaciers and their role in regulating hydrological processes in mountainous regions is well studied (Ramirez et al. 2001; Bradley et al. 2006; Vuille et al. 2008; Bolch et al. 2010; Chevallier et al. 2011), but in contrast, the contribution of “rock glaciers” to mountain water supplies is largely unknown. Rock glaciers are tongue-shaped bodies of frozen debris resembling a small glacier, with interstitial ice, ice lenses or a core of massive ice (Evans 2005; Jansen and Hergarten 2006). They are abundant in arid and semi-arid mountains and locally form elements of significant long-term water storage in the semi-arid Andes, especially in Chile (Trombotto et al. 1999; Brenning 2005). The estimated water equivalent held in the Chilean rock glaciers is one order of magnitude higher than in the Swiss Alps (Brenning 2005), indicating their local significance in South America and supporting the need for studies in other parts of the Andes. Improving understanding of these rock glaciers and their abundance is important as it is argued that the role of rock glaciers in prolonging water storage, and as a source of water, will become increasingly significant as glaciers continue to recede (Millar and Westfall 2008; Angillieri 2009; Seligman 2009). The internal composition of rock glaciers is known to be highly variable, ranging from pure ice to an ice/rock mixture depending on their origin of formation (Whalley and Azizi 1994). It is estimated that active rock glaciers contain a range of between 40 and 60 % ice under a top layer of rock, which acts as insulation for the ice from low amplitude and high frequency temperature changes (Brenning 2005), resulting in a slower response to fluctuations in climate in comparison to glaciers. Therefore the importance of rock glaciers as more robust sources of water is likely to increase with glacier recession (Angillieri 2009; Seligman 2009; Toomey 2011) and in areas where ice glaciers are absent.

The only published scientific research on rock glaciers in Bolivia comes from one site, Caquella (21°S) (Francou et al. 1999; Bodin et al. 2010), and to-date there has been no country-wide assessment of rock glaciers. Enhancing our knowledge of rock glacier distribution and water equivalence at a regional scale is an important step in assessing the state of the cryosphere. This knowledge is required for climate impact studies and water resource management (Brenning and Azócar 2008). Consequently, we have produced a preliminary rock glacier inventory mapping 79 rock glaciers across the high Andes of Bolivia (Fig. 5a). These features span from 15°S to 22°S along the two mountain ranges in Bolivia: Eastern and Western Cordillera. Example in situ photographs of rock glaciers of three different regions of the Bolivian Andes are shown in Fig. 5b. In areas without ice glaciers, such as along the Western Cordillera between 19°S and 22°S, rock glaciers are abundant, suggesting that they may be of significance for local water supplies, however, more research is required.

Fig. 5.

a Map of rock glaciers along the Bolivian Andes with three example rock glacier locations labeled A, B, and C (shown in b). The colored inset shows the study region on a continental scale. Map is creating using Global Digital Elevation Model tiles from ASTER. b Google Earth screen shots and corresponding in situ photographs from example rock glaciers visited in July and August 2012. Rock glaciers shown are: (A) Tuni rock glacier; (B) Sajama rock glacier; (C) Chiguana rock glacier, from three different regions of the Bolivian Andes. The circle on photograph C highlights a person, showing the scale of the rock glacier which is around 50 m in height at the snout. Colored arrows on all of the Google Earth screen shots are for easy identification of the snout of the rock glaciers

Conclusions

Continued climate change is likely to severely impact water availability in arid mountain regions. Countries of the Arid Andes are sensitive and vulnerable to this changing climate, and Bolivia is expected to be one of the countries most affected by future reductions in water supplies. Changes in temperature and precipitation are predicted to have serious consequences for the hydrological cycle in the Andes, linking to increased glacier melting. Glacier recession in the Andes is expected to happen quicker than in many other mountain regions, with 80 % of the glaciers in the Bolivian Cordillera Real predicted to vanish within the next few decades, significantly affecting water supplies. As well as the pressures of climate change and glacier recession, factors such as increasing population and poor infrastructure will contribute towards reduced water availability in La Paz, Bolivia with negative impacts on water for domestic use, agriculture, and HEP production.

Identifying and addressing all of these drivers and impacts promotes an integrated water management strategy to improve water resources in Bolivia. Immediate mitigation and adaptation is necessary, although there are multiple political and financial barriers which prohibit Bolivia from successfully adapting, therefore strategies need to be planned and implemented correctly. Developing long-term solutions to regional water challenges requires the use of inter-disciplinary approaches that maximize academic and local knowledge and community involvement. Community-based resource management adaptation strategies have been seen to empower users and provide a potential way forward to effectively strengthen their capacity and resilience to climate change and water scarcity.

One restriction outlined in this review is the lack of observation and monitoring of climate systems and water supplies, and critical gaps in present knowledge of the Andean mountain cryosphere exist, prohibiting better water resource management. Given the recession of ice glaciers, the contribution of other permafrost features, such as rock glaciers, to mountain water supplies are becoming increasingly important; yet these are largely unmapped and understudied. Improving our understanding of rock glaciers will play a part in developing resilient water supplies for Bolivia and other arid mountain regions.

Biographies

Sally Rangecroft

is a doctoral candidate working in the Environment and Sustainability Institute at the University of Exeter on water resources in the dry Andes of Bolivia, with specific focus looking at the contribution of rock glaciers to water supplies.

Stephan Harrison

is an Associate Professor of Quaternary Science whose main research interests lie in geomorphological responses to climate change.

Karen Anderson

is a Senior lecturer in Natural Environment with research specialisms in the field of remote sensing.

John Magrath

is a Programme Researcher at Oxfam UK whose focus is mainly on climate change and its implications for Oxfam’s work.

Ana Paola Castel

is a member of the Agua Sustentable team in La Paz whose work focuses on water, climate change and risk management.

Paula Pacheco

is the Head of the La Paz office for the Bolivian NGO Agua Sustentable.