The tropical Andes are one of the regions where climate change has been most evident. This is consistent with the notion that tropical high-elevation mountains will be more affected by warming. One of the main impacts of this warming is the retreat of glaciers; a process that may affect the availability of water for human consumption, irrigation and power production. This study presents results related to the most important changes in climate that might be expected in tropical South America, but especially in the tropical Andes, at the end of the 21st century. Results are provided by the comparison of two Regional Climate Model simulations based on the Hadley Center Regional Climate Modeling System, PRECIS. A medium-high CO2 emission scenario simulation for the period 2071-2100 (A2) is compared to a base-line mean climate state simulation for the 1961-1990 period. In addition, some results using a low-medium CO2 emission scenario (B2) are also presented for comparison. Results show a clear warming trend over South America reaching up to 8º C in northeastern South America. In this same place the largest decrease in precipitation and cloud cover are found. Along the Andes warming reaches up to 7º C in Cordillera Blanca in the A2 scenario and precipitation presents a mixed pattern of increases and decreases across the Cordillera. Warming is expected to be larger at higher elevations and significant changes in temperature variability are expected along both slopes of the Andes based on the A2 scenario. In addition both scenarios (B2 and A2) show an amplification of free tropospheric warming at higher altitudes. Finally, pressure-longitude cross-sections of zonal winds and vertical velocities at the latitudes of the Altiplano and the Cordillera Blanca show weakened mid- and upper tropospheric easterlies and strengthened westerlies in the A2 scenario. This change in the atmospheric circulation is conducive to a decrease in precipitation in those areas, and consequently may negatively impact glacier mass balance. In summary the obtained results reveal that anthropogenic climate change, as predicted with the A2 scenario, may constitute a serious threat to the survival of many tropical glaciers along the Andes Cordillera.

Basée sur une étude ethnographique de trois villages quechuaphones de la haute Cordillère sud du Pérou, notre recherche a pour objectif de montrer les différents rôles endossés par les missionnaires qui effectuent des visites ou s’installent sur place, et les impacts causés par leur présence et leurs œuvres. Dans la vie de ces hameaux, certains éléments culturels et sociaux sont dits traditionnels, c’est-à-dire non liés à la culture moderne, comme l’animisme, le catholicisme, le syncrétisme, le travail manuel, l’élevage, l’agriculture. Par le moyen de comparaisons entre les villages sans missionnaires, ceux qui reçoivent la visite de groupe religieux et ceux au sein desquels s’implantent des Églises, nous repérons les pratiques traditionnelles et constatons les évolutions cultuelles et sociales dues aux missions. L’enclavement géographique et linguistique des communautés étudiées, leurs caractéristiques sociales, culturelles et religieuses ainsi que leur environnement hostile font d’elles des terrains missionnaires peu habituels. De ce fait, les individus et les groupes religieux qui les évangélisent jonglent avec beaucoup de contraintes et peu de ressources. Cependant, avec le développement des réseaux routiers, ces villages se désenclavent l’un après l’autre. Par conséquent, le paysage religieux des hameaux d’altitude se modifie, accueillant de plus en plus d’Églises. Ainsi, la mondialisation gagne peu à peu les hautes Andes et le développement de l’activité missionnaire n’est pas seul responsable des mutations socioculturelles observables dans les communautés. Le tourisme et les interventions des O.N.G. et de l’État engendrent elles aussi des changements que chaque Église accompagne et/ou subit aux côtés des populations, réadaptant régulièrement ses méthodes d’évangélisation. La présence des différentes entités religieuses ouvre un nouveau mode de relation avec le monde extérieur. / Based on an ethnographic study of three Quechua speaking villages in the Southern part of the Peruvian highlands, our research seeks to show the diverse roles the missionaries who visit or live in the field assume, and the different impacts caused by their presence and their activities. In the life of these communities, some cultural and social elements are said to be traditional, i.e. not linked to modern culture, like animism, Catholicism, syncretism, manual work, animal breeding, agriculture. By making comparisons between villages that do not have missionary presence, others who do receive missionary visits and those with permanent missions, we identify the religious and social changes that are produced by missionary works. The communities’ geographical and linguistic isolation, their social, cultural and religious characteristics, as well as their inhospitable physical environment make them an uncommon missionary destination. Consequently, religious individuals and groups who evangelize must face many difficulties with few resources. However, with the growing spread of road networks, those villages open up more and more to the cities. Hence the highland communities’ religious landscape changes by welcoming more and more different Churches. Globalization then reaches the high Andes little by little and the development of missionary work is not the only cause to the sociocultural evolutions one can observe in the villages. Tourism and N.G.O. intervention leads to changes, and each Church accompanies and/or deals with them along with the people, readjusting their methods of evangelization on a regular basis. The presence of the diverse religious entities opens a new way of relating to the outside world.