Research & Analysis
Five forces destroying the Andes
The Andes face an interconnected web of threats — each one serious on its own, devastating in combination. This is what the research shows.
Glaciers that took millennia to form are gone within decades
The Andes contain over 99% of all tropical glaciers on Earth. Since the 1970s, many have lost between 30% and 60% of their total mass — and the rate of loss is accelerating.
These glaciers are not just scenic landmarks. They are the primary freshwater source for tens of millions of people across Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Colombia. As they disappear, the rivers they feed are becoming seasonal — full in the wet season, dry in the dry season.
Communities that have farmed the same valleys for thousands of years are now facing water insecurity for the first time. The Quelccaya Ice Cap in Peru — the world's largest tropical glacier — has retreated by over 1.5 km since 1963.
of Andean glaciers lost since 1970
people depend on glacial meltwater
retreat of Quelccaya Ice Cap since 1963
average warming above the Andes since 1950
The forests that hold the mountains together are being cleared
The Andes are home to some of the most biodiverse forests on Earth. They are also among the most threatened. Agricultural expansion, cattle ranching, and coca cultivation have cleared over 40% of original Andean forest cover.
Andean forests do more than shelter wildlife — they anchor soil on steep slopes, regulate rainfall, and filter water for downstream communities. When they are cleared, the consequences cascade: landslides increase, rivers silt up, and the páramo wetlands above lose their protective buffer.
The cloud forests of the eastern Andes — the "eyebrow of the jungle" — are being cleared at rates that outpace scientific documentation. Species are going extinct before they are even named.
of Andean forest cover lost historically
hectares cleared annually in the Andes region
of all Earth's plant species found here
bird species in the Andes — more than any other mountain range
The mountains are being hollowed out for copper, gold, and lithium
The Andes sit atop some of the world's largest mineral deposits. Large-scale open-pit mining operations have expanded dramatically in recent decades, driven by global demand for copper, gold, silver, and increasingly, lithium for electric vehicle batteries.
Mining operations contaminate rivers with heavy metals and acid drainage, destroy high-altitude wetlands that cannot be restored, and displace indigenous communities who have lived in these landscapes for generations.
The irony is acute: the lithium being extracted from Andean salt flats to power the "green energy transition" is destroying the very ecosystems that regulate the regional climate. Environmental impact assessments are routinely inadequate, and enforcement is weak.
Peru is the world's second-largest copper producer
of world's lithium reserves in the Andean "Lithium Triangle"
active mining concessions in sensitive Andean zones
active environmental conflicts related to mining in the Andes
Species are disappearing faster than science can document them
The Andes are one of the world's 36 biodiversity hotspots — a designation that means both extraordinary richness and extraordinary threat. The region contains more plant and vertebrate species per square kilometer than almost anywhere else on Earth.
The Andean condor, spectacled bear, mountain tapir, and puma are among the iconic species under pressure. But the less visible losses may matter more: the frogs, orchids, mosses, and insects that form the base of functioning ecosystems are disappearing in silence.
Habitat fragmentation is a key driver. As forests are cleared and replaced by farmland, wildlife populations become isolated in shrinking patches. Genetic diversity collapses. Local extinctions become permanent extinctions.
plant species in the Andes — 20,000 found nowhere else
Andean amphibian species threatened with extinction
vertebrate species found only in the Andes
decline in Andean condor population since 1970
The Andes supply water to a continent — and that supply is failing
The Andes are often called "the water tower of South America." The rivers that originate here — the Amazon, the Orinoco, the Paraná — supply freshwater to over 85 million people and irrigate the agricultural heartlands of an entire continent.
Glacial retreat, deforestation, and páramo degradation are converging to reduce the reliability and volume of this water supply. Cities like Lima, La Paz, and Quito are already experiencing water stress. Rural communities dependent on seasonal rivers are facing crop failures.
The water crisis is not a future threat — it is happening now. And because the Andes supply water to so many downstream ecosystems and human populations, the consequences of inaction extend far beyond the mountains themselves.
people depend on Andean river systems
of South America's freshwater originates in the Andes
one of the world's largest cities with no major river — dependent on glacial melt
projected year many Andean glaciers will be functionally gone
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