Situated in a fertile valley in the Andes Mountains of Peru, the city of Cusco was once the thriving capital of the Inca Empire. Temples, palaces, schools, roads and a fortress came together to form the city, which many believe was built in the shape of a puma — a sacred animal for the Inca.
Today, the city of just over 400,000 inhabitants has become a prime destination for tourists seeking a blend of culture and history. But mixed in with remnants of the city’s Inca and subsequent Spanish colonial past is the noise and congestion of modern life. Cars, trucks and buses have flooded streets originally designed for pedestrians, and traffic police direct the flows of people and automobiles.
Since 2000, Cusco has added nearly 40,000 new inhabitants every five years in addition to its annual flow of tourists, and the prevalence of carbon emitting vehicles on crowded city streets has also risen. In Peru, carbon dioxide emissions per capita reached 1.8 metric tons, up 80 percent from 2003, according to the World Bank.
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About the author
Jeff Tyson@jtyson21
Jeff is a former global development reporter for Devex. Based in Washington, D.C., he covers multilateral affairs, U.S. aid, and international development trends. He has worked with human rights organizations in both Senegal and the U.S., and prior to joining Devex worked as a production assistant at National Public Radio. He holds a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in international relations and French from the University of Rochester.
