Assessment of the risk generated by natural and anthropic agents on Peruvian coastal marine environments

The Peruvian coast is one of the most productive in the world due to the current system and the rich upwelling of nutrients. Therefore, it sustains the development of large and diverse populations, especially within the pelagic ecosystem. Different processes and events caused by natural and anthropic activities occur along that coast, calling for scientific research and its diffusion to provide a basis for decisions concerning this national resource. Natural environmental phenomena, such as El Niño, La Niña and tsunamis (124 over the last six centuries), have caused disasters involving millions of people and significant economic losses. The displacement of river sediment also threatens the use of water resources, although drought is possibly the phenomenon that causes most damage but the extent is difficult to quantify. It is estimated that the economic impact of this event is greater than the flooding. Among the anthropogenic risks, there are: threats posed by the exploitation of oil and natural gas from the continental shelf and from the installations sited in bays; erosion along the coastline that destroys piers and houses; and discharge of domestic and industrial wastewater. Furthermore, as the regulations for the management of solid waste are not implemented in many cities, solid waste is also a serious environmental problem. This problem should be overcome by improving prevention systems to mitigate the impacts of natural disasters and avoid the risks of anthropic need, via appropriate planning, monitoring and control of socioeconomic activities.