Global Warming and Changing Water Resources: Perceptions of Glacier Retreat in Mountain Regions

Abstract

We are four anthropologists who form a research group on perceptions of and responses to glacier retreat. The massive retreat of mountain glaciers during the twentieth century is one of the most visible and high confidence level indicators of global warming. Melting glaciers create a period of greater water availability, followed by a period of greater water scarcity when they have shrunk. The effects of climate change on the seasonal distribution and year-to-year variability in water supply are also of importance. Changing water availability interacts with local water management systems, the integration of local systems in regional and larger systems, and the effects of climate change programs and policies on water management. We draw on a variety of methods (ethnography, survey research, archival work) to understand how people associate glacier retreat with changing water availability. Our work is ongoing and is being carried out in three sites: the North Cascades of Washington State; the Cordillera Blanca in Ancash, Peru; and the South Tirol in the Italian Alps. Each site contains two to four villages or towns, all with populations less than 1,000. In all areas, water is important as an economic resource (supporting agriculture, livestock, hydropower production and tourism); water-related hazards, particularly floods and mudflows, are also significant. In addition, water is a key element in cultural landscapes; its presence in many forms—ice, snow, springs, rivers, lakes—is a crucial element of regional identities.