1. Introduction

One of the most challenging global issues is climate change, showing its effects through changes in the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and geosphere interactions (^{Mayer, 2018}). Also, a threat to human and ecological systems (^{Mengistu et al., 2021}). Furthermore, water represents the critical aspect to guaranteeing food security (^{Ajjur & Al-Ghamdi, 2022}), considering that the agriculture sector is one of the most climate-vulnerable sectors, especially in regions with arid or semi-arid soil (^{He et al., 2021}).

Climate change was strongly analyzed, and its effects on water resources and agriculture still represent a significant duty for policymakers (^{Shagega et al., 2020}; ^{Suresh et al., 2021}). Population grows, and rapid development drastically increases water demand for its consumption and anthropogenic activities (^{Dias et al., 2020}). The supply is threatened by extreme weather conditions that trigger droughts or floods (^{Zhuang et al., 2018}), affecting public health and increasing infectious diseases, vector-borne, heat shock, malnutrition, and hunger (^{Carter et al., 2021}). Regarding food security, it is highly expected to increase irrigation requirements (IRR) due to climate variability, which is impacting several crops (^{Cooper et al., 2022}), and hydro electrical energy is also immersed in water scarcity or abundance effects (^{Kalair et al., 2019}). Also, some countries are predicted to increase international river basin discussions regarding its use right (^{Dinar et al., 2015}), creating hostility toward transboundary water resources (^{Dinar et al., 2019}).

The resource in question indeed represents 70% of the earth's surface (^{Karunakaran et al., 2021}). However, available freshwater for human use represents less than 1% and is still reducing over the years (^{Schmidt-Kloiber et al., 2019}); For instance, springs, rivers, lakes, wetlands, swamps, and lagoons (^{Kingsford et al., 2020}). This small percentage has to satisfy approximately 7.7 billion people around the globe nowadays, with an increasing projection to 10.9 billion people by the end of the current century (^{Klein & Anderegg, 2021}).

International understanding of water resources' importance for human development carried a recognition as a human right by the United Nations General Assembly in 2010, which refers to better quality, enough quantity, safe, and accessible drinking water (^{Yates & Harris, 2018}). Its concern has been shown in the international arena, for example, in the convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention) in 1992 and its protocol on Water and Health in 1999 (^{Ma et al., 2008}; ^{UNECE, 2022}). Also, under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (^{UNFCCC, 2022}) or the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015 (^{Belmonte-Ureña et al., 2021}; ^{U.N., 2022}).

In that sense, it is essential to take international agriculture and water resources treaties under a climate change approach as national regulation. In order to guarantee its achievement and appropriate climate actions; Long-term climate scenarios related to social, economic, and environmental impacts must be analyzed (^{Smith & Jenkins, 2013}).

Developing states had to change their behavior under international treaties from voluntary climate actions to national commitments based on their capabilities to contribute to the international goal (^{Vázquez-Rowe et al., 2019}). Scientific knowledge should get along with systematic social change, which is not impossible (^{Iglesias, 2022}). Peru is one of these developing states where climate change events do not equally affect everybody. Those with an income taking advantage of water resources are a considerable risk to the country's ecological system (^{Heikkinen, 2021}).

Peru's hydrographic structure is integrated by the Amazon, Pacific, and Titicaca, regions with 84, 62, and 13 basins, respectively (^{ANA, 2022}), to supply 33 million 35,304 thousand habitants in 2021 approximately (^{INEI, 2022}). However, the resource distribution throughout the Peruvian territory is not homogeneous (^{ANA, 2022}), so its management and climate commitment to increase resilience are vital.

Taking into account that according to (^{IPCC, 2014}), resili ence is the capacity of social, economic, and environmen tal spheres to handle a hazardous event, replying or reorganizing in ways that allow them to maintain their essential functions and the capacity to adapt, learn and transform. For instance, to be resilient, urban communities worldwide have started to practice urban rooftop agriculture (URTA), applying irrigation techniques to guarantee water availability and food security under climate change scenarios (^{Begum et al., 2022}).

Consequently, this study aims to understand the Peruvian conduct under the UNFCCC regime, the influence on Peruvian regulation and institutions over the years, and the recent commitment to the UNFCCC related to agriculture and water resources based on an exhaustive review of scientific papers, UNFCCC's documents, and Peruvian regulations.

2. Climate Change, agriculture and water resources

Climate change is expressed through the water, affecting its demand and supply. Water use is mainly divided into agriculture, industrial, and domestic activities. Economically speaking, the elasticity refers to that domestic water use will increase from 0.02% to 3.8% by a 1% rise in global temperature and from 0.02% to 0.31% when precipitation is reduced by 1% (^{Frederick & Major, 1997}).

Reducing rainfall frequency and increasing global temperature affects arid and semi-arid areas due to their vulnerability to the potential water resources shortage and the extended renewal capability of the resource (^{Aliyari et al., 2021}).

It is predicted that by 2025, almost 3.5 billion people globally will have problems with freshwater access, or simply it will be impossible. The affected ones, located most of the time in developing countries, used to be marginalized by their geographical location, economically, and socially status; so, it is essential to understand that water is a complex system that involves cultural, social, environmental, and economic spheres (^{Mukheibir, 2010}). Figure 1 mainly explains the water cycle and its interactions with specific sectors, contributing to food security and nutrition.

One of these developing countries is Peru, which has an essential source of fresh water located in the Andes, with 70% of tropical glaciers around the globe and its 4557 lakes surrounding them (^{Wood et al., 2021}), being one of the countries with more fresh water in South America. However, because of global warming, all those glaciers are exposed and tend to disappear by the end of the century (^{Chevallier et al., 2011}; ^{Young & Lipton, 2006}). Also, water resources are unequally distributed in the territory (^{Eda & Chen, 2010}), making the vulnerability of ecosystems and communities rise under climate change scenarios (^{Bury et al., 2011}; ^{Lastra et al., 2021}; ^{Lynch, 2012}).

The Peruvian territory is divided into three crucial hydrographic regions: Pacific, Amazonas, and Titicaca (^{Eda & Chen, 2010}), which have a territory distribution of 21%, 74.5%, and 3.8%, respectively to supply 64.9%, 31.6%, and 3.5% of the population in the same order (ANA, 2022). In addition, critical points with the risk of flooding and erosion in rivers and streams have been identified by ANA at the national level due to hydrometeorological phenomena and extreme events increasing water stress (ANA, 2022).

In that sense, Peru has been seeking an Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) as part of sustainable development to increase water supply, awareness, and agriculture resilience to environmental problems in a growing population affected by extreme climate events (^{Flórez Bossio et al., 2021}; ^{Salmoral et al., 2020}; ^{Ponce, 2020}).

Figure 1. Multiple Interfaces between Water and Food Security and Nutrition (FSN). Source: ^{HLPE (2015)}.  

3. International regimes

Regimes are sets of implicit or explicit beliefs, behavior regulations defined in norms, specific instructions, and actions to implement collective choice in a specific area in international relations (^{Krasner, 1983}). The main objective is establishing a group of commitments about the area of interest to get expected benefits, such as a rise in social welfare. There are regimes in every international political arena: security, economics, environment (UNFCCC), and human rights. The study of those regimes is under neoliberalism, which privileges interest analysis variables, and realism focuses on the power among states (^{Hasenclever et al., 1999}; ^{Vogler, 2016}).

4. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

The milestone in international matters regarding climate change was given at the Earth Summit by the United Nations in May 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, adopting the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and entering into force in March 1994. Which objective is "stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that prevents dangerous anthropogenic interference in the climate system" (^{Kuyper & Schroeder, 2018}). Furthermore, article 4° refers to the fact that all parties, specially developed ones, must cooperate in preparations for adaptation to the impacts of climate change, such as water resources (^{UNFCCC, 2022}).

The Peruvian Government signed the Convention on June 12, 1992, and ratified it on June 7, 1993, as a Non-Annex I party that includes every developing country. Based on the Convention, Peru reported three communications according to the article 12° of the Convention (^{UNFCCC, 2022}) and two biennial update report submissions based on decision 2/CP.17 (^{UNFCCC, 2022}). The timeline is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 Peruvian Submissions to the UNFCCC Timeline. 

5. Agreements under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

The Kyoto Protocol was established at the third Conference of the Parties (COP3) held in Japan in 1997 and entered into force in 2005 to reduce Greenhouse Gasses (GhG) by 5% versus the levels of 1990 between 2008-2012, considering the sewage treatment as a source of GhG (^{UNFCCC, 2022}). It was signed on November 13, 1998, and ratified by Peru on September 12, 2002 (^{UNTC, 2022}). Then, it was amended in Qatar on December 8, 2012, at the 18th Conference of the Parties (COP18) "Doha Amendment" for a second period between 2013-2020, increasing the target to 18% (^{UNFCCC, 2022}), accepted by Peru on September 24, 2014, and entering into force on December 31, 2020 (^{UNTC, 2022}).

The Kyoto Protocol was considered a failure and an exclusive mitigation action (^{Mayer, 2018}). The Copenhagen Accord took place in 2009 at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) in Denmark regarding adaptation measures to increase resilience in vulnerable populations and provide the objective to hold the temperature rise below 2 °C and pursue the effort to limit it to 1.5°C (^{UNFCCC, 2022}).

In consequence, under a better structure argument (^{Mayer, 2018}). The Cancun Agreement occurred at Mexico's 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) in 2010. It secured those arguments in 2009, recognizing the effects of climate change on human rights, ratifying the importance of adaptative measures in diverse spheres like water resources, and establishing the Green Climate Fund (GCF) (^{UNFCCC, 2022}).

Furthermore, the Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) took place in December 2015 at the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) in France. On November 4, 2016, the agreement entered into force for periods posthumous to 2020. The main objective is holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by the year 2050, among mitigation and adaptation actions. Every party under the UNFCCC should present their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) (^{UNFCCC, 2022}).

The Peruvian Government signed the agreement on April 22, 2016, and ratified it on July 25, 2016 (^{UNTC, 2022}). The same day, Peru reported its first Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and updated it on December 18, 2020 (^{UNFCCC, 2022}) with 62 mitigation and 92 adaptation measures, of which 31 are strictly related to water resources and 17 to agriculture (^{Peruvian Government, 2022}). The agreements timeline is detailed in Figure 3.

6. Peruvian institutions concerning climate change, agriculture and water resources

Public institutions are vital actors in climate change regulations. In that sense, those head institutions related to the compliance of the Peruvian commitments under the UNFCCC related to agriculture-water resources were considered.

Peru has 18 ministries; one of them is the Ministry of Environment, created by Legislative Decree N° 1013 on ^{May 13, 2008} (^{Peruvian Government, 2022b}), which nowadays is the focal point for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and it has a directive, technical-normative functions in environmental aspects. Therefore, compliance with regulations implemented by the legislative branch in climate change will be in charge (^{Peruvian Government, 2022c}). The central departments related to climate change are shown in Figure 4.

Figure 3 Agreements Under the UNFCCC and Peruvian Participation Timeline. 

The Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation was created by Law N° 9711 on December 31, 1942 (^{Peruvian Government, 2022b}). It is concerned with pursuing integral, social, efficient, sustainable, and modern water resources management and agriculture resilience (^{Peruvian Government, 2022d}). The central departments related to climate change are shown in Figure 4.

The Water National Authority (WNA) is a specialized technical body attached to the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation and was created on ^{March 13, 2008}, through Legislative Decree N° 997 (Peruvian Government, 2022b). Some of its functions related to climate change are to promote the implementation of adaptation measures, promoting actions, and projects that will increase water availability during hydrological events under the harm prevention and mitigation approach (^{Peruvian Government, 2022e}).

The Ministry of Housing, Construction, and Sanitation was created by Law N° 27779 on July 11, 2002 (Peruvian Government, 2022b). It is focused on infrastructural planning in the national territory, evaluation of construction and sanitation policies, comply with norms, plans, and procedures related to climate change actions under their functions (^{Peruvian Government, 2022f}) under their departments evidenced in Figure 4.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Energy and Mines was created by Law N° 17271 on December 3, 1968 (^{Peruvian Government, 2022b}). Its functions are related to the concern for the integrated and sustainable development of mining and energy, which involves hydroelectric ones respecting the environment (^{Peruvian Government, 2022g}).

7. Peruvian normativity concerning climate change, agriculture and water resources

Several regulations related to the environment were implemented in Peru during the last decades. However, those essential milestones for significant changes in the Peruvian regulations related to climate change, agriculture, and water resources were considered.

Progress reported in the Second National Communication to the UNFCCC

The Law N° 27867 of Regional Governments was created in 2002 and includes formulating, coordinating, leading, and supervising the regional strategies related to climate change, agriculture, and water resources. Which one complements the National Strategy on Climate Change (NSCC) established in 2003 through Supreme Decree N° 086-2003-PCM, which includes the national program with mitigation and adaptation measures (^{Peruvian Government, 2022b}).

Figure 4 Main Peruvian Public Institutions concerning climate change, agriculture, and water resource. 

Law N° 28245 implemented the National Environmental Management System (NEMS) in 2004 as a national strategy designed to implement commitments under the UNFCCC and other international commitments. Then, in 2005 a regulatory framework for environmental management to improve life quality and encourage sustainable development was established by Law N° 28611, General Environmental Law (^{Peruvian Government, 2022b}).

Also, in 2006 through Supreme Decree N° 001-2006-ED, the National Strategic Plan of Science, Technology, and Innovation for Competitiveness and Human Development was established to articulate the national priority areas as agriculture, water security, and climate change with international treaties like the UNFCCC. Furthermore, the Ministry of Environment was created in 2008 through Legislative Decree N° 1013 to replace the National Commission on Environment. It became the new governing body in environmental matters in Peru and the new focal point for the UNFCCC (^{Peruvian Government, 2022b}).

Strictly related to water, the Peruvian Government created the National Water Authority (NWA) by Legislative Decree N° 997 in 2008 to manage water resources. This regulation came with the Legislative Decree N° 1081 and Legislative Decree N° 1083, creating the National Water Resources System (NWRS), and promoting the efficient use and conservation of the resource, respectively. To regulate the water resources management intentions, the Water Recourses Law was created in 2009 by Law N° 29338 (^{Peruvian Government, 2022b}).

Progress reported in the Third National Communication to the UNFCCC

Once the national involvement in environmental matters was taking place, the National Environmental Policy was defined in 2009 through Supreme Decree N° 012-2009-MINAM, having a vision for the achievement of adaptation to climate change impacts as well as the integrated management of water resources and natural resources as soil. Later, in 2011 Law N° 29664 created the National Disaster Risk Management System (NDRMS) to prevent or reduce the risk of various factors as climate change effects (^{Peruvian Government, 2022b}).

Through Supreme Decree N° 054-2011-PCM, the National Development Plan Strategy (NDPS) was established in 2021 for long-term development, considering climate change as a megatrend of worldwide changes. Also, to operationalize the National Environmental Policy with specific water resources, agriculture, and climate change objectives, the National Environmental Action Plan was established in 2011 through Supreme Decree N° 014-2011-MINAM (^{Peruvian Government, 2022b}).

The National Commission on Climate Change (NCCC) was modified in 2013, considering the Ministry of Environment functions through Supreme Decree N° 015-2013-MINAM (^{Peruvian Government, 2022b}). Then the National Strategy on Climate Change (NSCC) was updated until 2021 to increase awareness and adaptative capacity to maintain water resources and agriculture resilience as a priority in 2015 through Supreme Decree N° 011-2015-MINAM (^{Peruvian Government, 2022b}).

Progress after the Third National Communication to the UNFCCC

The Peruvian Government, according to the Paris Agreement, reported its first Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in 2016, approved by the National Commission on Climate Change (NCCC) to pursue and contribute with adaptation and mitigation measures by 2030 (^{UNFCCC, 2022}). However, to take the international commitment into a national legally-binding obligation; the Framework Law on climate change was created in 2018 by Law N° 30754 to articulate public policies and their comprehensive management of climate change, taking into account different approaches: intergenerational, intercultural, equality, human rights, indigenous knowledge, hydrographic basis, and ecosystems (^{Peruvian Government, 2022b}).

Then, in 2020 through Supreme Decree N° 006-2020-MINAM, the High-Level Commission on Climate Change was created to propose adaptation and mitigation measures for the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and report its advance every five years (^{Peruvian Government, 2022b}). In that sense, the update of the first Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) by 2030 and 2050 was given in 2020 and approved by the High-Level Commission on Climate Change, including 92 adaptations (31 related to water resources and 17 to agriculture) and 62 mitigation measures (^{UNFCCC, 2022}).

Furthermore, the National Adaptation Plan for climate change by 2030 was established in 2021 through Ministerial Resolution N° 096-2021-MINAM. It operationalized all those 92 adaptative measures presented in the latest NDC (^{Peruvian Government, 2022b}).

On the other hand, the update of the National Environmental Policy by 2030 within its thematic axes to increase resilience in the agriculture sector to climate change or the integrated management of water resources was established through Supreme Decree N° 023-2021-MINAM in 2021 ^{(Peruvian Government, 2022b}).

Objectives related to climate change, agriculture and water resources based on Peruvian actions - Regulations

Table 1 lists the objectives related to climate change, agriculture and water resources.

8. Institutions, regulations, and Peruvian commitment to the UNFCCC

According to the regulations previously cited, the Peruvian Government had updated their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) to the UNFCCC, including 92 adaptation measures among priority spheres (water, agriculture, fishing-aquaculture, forest, and health). The water and agriculture sector involves 31 and 17 out of 92 measures participating at the central four institutions related to climate change, agriculture and water resources shown in Table 2 operationalized by the National Adaptation Plan to Climate Change by 2030 (Peruvian Government, 2022).

Table 1 Operational climate change, agriculture and water resources objectives 

Table 2 Peruvian agriculture-water adaptation measures 

The table above shows Peru's 31 water and 17 agriculture adaptation measures for Climate Change by 2030-2050, its target status, and synergistic institution. The National Adaptation Plan (NAP) reveals that 29% of its water measures do not have specific targets for the two long-term scales, while almost 12% of agriculture measures lack specific targets (2030 & 2050). Furthermore, it is essential to emphasize that the main responsible for the NAP implementation is the Ministry of Environment; however, the horizontal cooperation among ministers is essential based on their responsibilities and adaptation components. In that sense, four institutions are also responsible for the appropriate planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.

9. Critical appraisal

The Peruvian Government, as a developing state, had acted under a neoliberalism approach, seeking a common objective and strengthening international cooperation to increase the resilience to climate change. However, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) tends to have a realistic approach because the states' capability distributions affect the achievement, despite its intentions led by a neoliberalism approach.

Also, the result shows four seasons related to the Peruvian regulation evolution related to climate change, agriculture, and water resources. Three of them have been reported to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), considering scientific, economic, and moral components that, according to (^{Mayer, 2018}), should be considered in government actions to contribute to the fulfillment of international objectives.

Some regulations were updating their previous ones. The latest has been shown a roadmap with goals in terms of climate change, agriculture, and water resources by 2030 as the Paris Agreement request based on the learning obtained representing one of the high-level goals that (^{Gates, 2021}) suggests. However, it should be analyzed and defined if it is specific, measurable, and realistic because, according to (^{Young, 1989}), it increases the effectiveness of fulfilling the responsibilities assumed internationally.

On the other hand, Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) started a policy discourse supported by international organizations like the United Nations in 1990 (^{Benson & Lorenzoni, 2017}). Throughout the years, it has been part of adaptation measures (^{Kamperman & Biesbroek, 2017}). The water management programs are oriented primarily to infrastructure, technology development, and public awareness. Which one goes accord Table 2, having 18 adaptation measures among the same areas belonging to the Water National Authority and the Ministry of Housing, Construction, and Sanitation. Furthermore, (^{Schattman et al., 2021}) express that the efficacy of measures to tackle climate change will depend on a balance of water demand among different sectors, as is shown in figure 04 among four Peruvian head institutions concerning adaptation actions, agriculture, and water recourses.

Unfortunately, the Peruvian critical points, water inequity distribution, and weather change could threaten all those adaptation measures related to water resources and agriculture reported in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). According to (^{Dias et al., 2020}), the hydrological modeling, agriculture sector management, and climate scenario occurrence still represent much uncertainty for policymakers. In that sense, (^{Mertz et al., 2009}; ^{Mumme, 2020}) suggest that environmental strategies related to agriculture-water management should develop forward international treaties, identify risks, and promote values and international cooperation.

In addition, the Peruvian Government has been running the National Strategic Plan of Science, Technology, and Innovation for Competitiveness and Human Development to increase climate change, natural resources, and water resources research. According to (^{Carraro et al., 2012}), which substantially increases the probability of efficiency in public policies and is referred by (^{Eroğlu & Erbil, 2021}) that cooperation among policy and knowledge makers is essential to tackle climate change.

10 Conclusions

The Peruvian Government actively participates in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). They take a neoliberalism approach to increase the adaptative capacity and contribute to the global interest in reducing Greenhouse Gasses (GhG) emissions. Furthermore, as a developing country, it does not have the power to implement adaptation measures by itself, making international cooperation a very strong component in the Peruvian funding strategy to reduce climate vulnerability.

The freshwater availability among the Peruvian territory is very inequity. One of the biggest challenges for the national Government is to ensure its distribution across the country that is also threatened by hydrometeorological events and to increase agriculture resilience to ensure food security. However, the climate change convention represented an excellent opportunity to achieve integrated agriculture-water management. It pushed to develop specific public institutions related to agriculture-water and programs, policies, and laws under a sustainable development approach since the ratification of the Peruvian Government on the convention.

Furthermore, one of the most important influences of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in the Peruvian regulation was given after the Paris Agreement. Law N° 30754 on climate change articulate regulations providing a more substantial legally-binding commitment under the international convention.

Recently, the Peruvian Government submitted its updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) as the Paris Agreement requested. Among its 154 measures reported, almost 60% of them are related to adaptation actions. The half part of it is directed to water resources and agriculture, understanding their priority under the international convention.

Finally, it is recommended to analyze the compliance of the latest programs, policies, and laws related to adaptation-mitigation actions, as well as keep studying climate change impacts at a local level to develop a bottom-up approach for an effective policy formulation, implementation and monitoring.