| Summary: | This paper examines the physical and perceived landscape changes in a mining area located in northern Peru. The divergent points of view about the impacts ofthe mining activities have been more dynamic in recent years. This condition leads to the need of a better comprehension of the environmental and socialconsequences of the mining activities.Landscape studies may be relevant to understand such problems. So, in this study, we intend to determine the landscape change in a mining area by mapping the change of the physicallandscape and analyzing the local population's perception of this change. The physical dimension is studied by spatial-holistic interpretation of diachronic air photographs to produce maps of the pre-mining period (1993) and after (2000), which allows comparisons between them. The perception is examined from the analysis of semi-structured interviews to the local population. The physical landscape analysis shows a change index of 73% in all the studied area. This change is characterized mainly by the conversion of the semi-natural grass to the mining area where the grass is scarce. These results correlate positive with the local population's appreciation who perceive great environmental changes and stress the dramatic reduction of the natural resources, which are the basis for their living as grasses and water. Most of the informants had concerns of the lost of practices, customs and identity. Methodologically, this study is based on an empirical and theoric research, that combines quantitative and qualitative methodsto study the landscape changes.
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