According to a recent study conducted by the Research Institute of the Continental University of Huancayo, regarding the enormous potential of environmental service that the Altonadian area of the central highlands of the country has; He revealed that miners located in the Pasco region endanger the Junín National Reserve.
The study carried out by said house of higher studies reveals that Lake Junín or Chinchaycocha, considered the second largest in the country, is vulnerable because 30% of the lake is contaminated with historical mining liabilities, a situation that has caused biodiversity loss within of the protected area.
A study by the current director of SOURCE International Flaviano Bianchini in 2009 already showed serious pollution in Lake Junín due to the discharge of mining wastewater from the VOLCAN mine (now Sac Hill). The study can be downloaded here .
To confront the pollution of the lake, the regional government has declared it in a state of public calamity (1994) and even the first natural wonder of the region (2008); while the Executive has arranged last year, through Supreme Resolution No. 002-MINAM, the Chinchaycocha Sustainable Environmental Management Plan 2012-2016 and is expected to have better results than those formulated since 2002.
Lake Chinchaycocha is one of the largest wetlands in the country and occupies most of the Junín National Reserve, considered as a wetland of international importance by the Ramsar Convention, the highest intergovernmental treaty on wetland conservation signed in 1971 in the city of Ramsar, Iran, in force since 1975, and signed by Peru in 1991.
On the other hand, the study also showed that Lake Junín assimilates large tons of carbon dioxide in its flora and soil , a condition that expresses its enormous potential for environmental service, as it has predominant species of flora.
