Knowledge Forum on "Glacier Hazards and Mitigation Work in the Peruvian Andes Since 1941"

Mountain Legacy, a Nepal-based NGO, has announced that Peruvian engineer César Augusto Portocarrero  Rodríguez will receive the 2017 Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal at the Hotel Tibet International in Boudhanath, Kathmandu, on 11 December 2016 amidst International Mountain Day celebrations. Portocarrero is being honored for his decades of work in the Andes Mountains to mitigate potential danger from glacial lake outburst floods. His work has saved thousands of lives, and his research has been shared among mountain communities around the world, including the Himalaya and Central Asia.

Protocarrero graduated from the National University of Cusco in Peru, and began his work in disaster management work after the 7.9 magnitude earthquake that rocked Peru in 1971. Soon after, Portocarrero switched his focus to glaciology and lake security in the Huaraz region where he was among the first scientists to recognize the potential danger of glacial lake outburst floods, or GLOFs.

As Director of the Institute of Glaciology and Water Resources, Portocarrero directed 18 GLOF hazard mitigation projects, many of which went beyond infrastructure work to focus on management of reservoirs, irrigation, water distribution, and drainage. He also focused on educating the public in matters of hydrology and meteorology.

In addition to his work in Peru, Portocarrero has been active in international scientific exchange programs, many of which have been supported by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), and The Mountain Institute (TMI).

Established in 2003, to reward accomplishments in mountain advocacy, the Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal commemorates Hilary’s legacy of mountain development work.

Portocarrero is also the author of Glacial Lake Handbook: Reducing Risk from Dangerous Glacial Lakes in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru.

Programme

Note: Mountain Legacy is presenting the 2017 Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal to Ing. César A. Portocarrero Rodríguez amidst a ceremony that will take place at Hotel Tibet International in Boudhanath, Kathmandu, Nepal from 4:00 to 6:00 pm on 11 December 2016. This will be followed by a festive reception in observance of the UN-designated International Mountain Day.  For inquiry, please contact Seth Sicroff at sicroff@hillarymedal.org.