Global consumption continues to generate growth in mining. In lesserdeveloped economies, this growth offers the potential to generate newresources for development, but also creates challenges to sustainabilityin the regions in which extraction occurs. This context leads todebate on the institutional arrangements most likely to build synergiesbetween mining, livelihoods, and development, and on the socio-politicalconditions under which such institutions can emerge. Buildingfrom a multiyear, three country program of research projects, Peru, aglobal center of mining expansion, serves as an exemplar for analyzingthe effects of extractive industry on livelihoods and the conditionsunder which arrangements favoring local sustainability might emerge.This program is guided by three emergent hypotheses in human environmentalsciences regarding the relationships among institutions,knowledge, learnin...

Global consumption continues to generate growth in mining. In lesserdeveloped economies, this growth offers the potential to generate newresources for development, but also creates challenges to sustainabilityin the regions in which extraction occurs. This context leads todebate on the institutional arrangements most likely to build synergiesbetween mining, livelihoods, and development, and on the socio-politicalconditions under which such institutions can emerge. Buildingfrom a multiyear, three country program of research projects, Peru, aglobal center of mining expansion, serves as an exemplar for analyzingthe effects of extractive industry on livelihoods and the conditionsunder which arrangements favoring local sustainability might emerge.This program is guided by three emergent hypotheses in human environmentalsciences regarding the relationships among institutions,knowledge, learnin...

Global consumption continues to generate growth in mining. In lesserdeveloped economies, this growth offers the potential to generate newresources for development, but also creates challenges to sustainabilityin the regions in which extraction occurs. This context leads todebate on the institutional arrangements most likely to build synergiesbetween mining, livelihoods, and development, and on the socio-politicalconditions under which such institutions can emerge. Buildingfrom a multiyear, three country program of research projects, Peru, aglobal center of mining expansion, serves as an exemplar for analyzingthe effects of extractive industry on livelihoods and the conditionsunder which arrangements favoring local sustainability might emerge.This program is guided by three emergent hypotheses in human environmentalsciences regarding the relationships among institutions,knowledge, learnin...

Original abstract: The tropical glaciers of the Cordillera Blanca, Peru, are rapidly retreating, resulting in complex impacts on the hydrology of the upper Río Santa watershed. The effect of this retreat on water resources is evaluated by analyzing historical and recent time series of daily discharge at nine measurement points. Using the Mann-Kendall nonparametric statistical test, the significance of trends in three hydrograph parameters was studied. Results are interpreted using synthetic time series generated from a hydrologic model that calculates hydrographs based on glacier retreat sequences. The results suggest that seven of the nine study watersheds have probably crossed a critical transition point, and now exhibit decreasing dry-season discharge. Our results suggest also that once the glaciers completely melt, annual discharge will be lower than present by 2-30% depending on th...