VARIABILITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE CENTRAL PERUVIAN ANDES

The present work is part of the "Integrated Local Assessment of the Mantaro River Basin " (ILA Mantaro), whose main objective was: to systematize and to extend the knowledge about climate change in the Mantaro river basin, and to evaluate the climatic, physical and social aspects of its vulnerability, as well as to identify viable adaptation options for the agriculture, hydroelectric energy and health sectors, to be incorporated into local and regional development planning. In this context, the climatic component of the study consisted in the analysis of the climate of the basin: intraseasonal and interannual variability of rainfall and freezes, the relation between re-gional and large-scale climate, and the climatic trends in the last 40-50 years. The generation of future climatic scenarios for the river basin constituted another important objective. These results were used for the analysis of the present and future vulnerability in the Mantaro river basin to cli-mate variability and change, as well as for the proposal of adaptation measures. 1