A framework law on climate change, passed unanimously by Peru’s Congress on March 15, aims to help the country implement mitigation and adaptation policies, promote a low-carbon economy and comply with international commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But approval of the bill comes amid concern about new legislation that would promote road construction in the Peruvian Amazon, where roads tend to trigger deforestation, the largest source of Peru’s greenhouse-gas output. The climate-change law, which awaits enabling legislation, calls for sound management of watersheds, water sources and sensitive ecosystems such as glacial areas. It specifically mentions the need for climate-change strategies to draw on the traditional knowledge of indigenous communities, whose woodland territories often are better conserved than government-managed forests... [Log in to read more]