It lies wholly in the Southern Hemisphere, its northernmost extreme reaching to 1.8 minutes of latitude or about 3.3 kilometres (2.1 mi) south of the equator.

Despite the great diversity of Peruvian territory, the Spanish divided it into three main regions for political rather than geographical reasons: the Coast, adjacent to the Pacific Ocean; the Highlands, located in the Andean mountains; and the Amazon Jungle.

This division, despite its evident limitations, lasted until 1941, when the third General Assembly of the Pan American Institute of Geography and History approved the creation of eight natural regions, proposed by the geographer Javier Pulgar Vidal, to establish a physiographic map more adjusted to the biogeographical reality of the territory.

Natural hazards that Peru experiences include earthquakes, tsunamis, flooding, landslides, and mild volcanic activity.

Peru is a party to the following international environmental agreements:Antarctic Treaty, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling.

[16] The combination of tropical latitude, mountain ranges, topography variations and two ocean currents (Humboldt and El Niño) gives Peru a large diversity of climates.

[17] The eastern portions of Peru include the Amazon Basin or selva baja, a region that is larger in the north than in the south.

Representing roughly 60% of Peru's national territory, this area includes the Amazon, Marañón, Huallaga and Ucayali Rivers.

The region is affected by the cold Humboldt Current, the El Niño Southern Oscillation, tropical latitude, and the Andes mountain range.

The central and southern coast consists mainly of a subtropical desert climate composed of sandy or rocky shores and inland cutting valleys.

Additionally, due to the height of the Andes cordillera, there is no passage of hot clouds from the Amazon to the coast, the climate is cooler than that of similar tropical latitudes.

Moreover, the Andes mountains are very close to the coast, a geographic factor that prevents cumulus or cumulonimbus clouds from appearing.

The central coast is composed of regions including La Libertad, Ancash and Lima, which have a spring-like climate for most of the year.

The southern coast, composed of the Ica, Arequipa, Moquegua and Tacna regions, has a drier and warmer climate during the day for all seasons, although colder in winter.

This purports the idea that the southern coast has a more desert-like climate, although daily temperature variations exist as they do in other regions within tropical latitudes.

Clear skies are often present in desert areas and, although less common, near the coastal cliffs as well, which are home to a variety of fish and marine mammals.

It is also a biodiverse area where typical wildlife can be observed such as crocodiles, reptiles, iguanas, boas, pava aliblanca, anteater, bear, sloth (bearh) and many more.

This climatic change is caused by the presence of the warm El Niño Current during the summer months (December to April), the eventual El Niño Phenomenon and the passing of Amazon Jungles clouds due to mountain openings and lower altitudes of the Andes Chain.

Summer (December through March) is more humid and very hot, with average temperatures that vary from 25 °C (77 °F) during the night to around 34 °C (93.2 °F) during the day, although north of Lambayeque it can reach the 40 °C (104 °F).

Terrain: western coastal plain (costa), high and rugged Andes in center (sierra), eastern lowland jungle of Amazon Basin (selva).

Natural resources: copper, silver, gold, petroleum, timber, fish, iron ore, coal, phosphate, potash, hydropower.

Carbon emissions due to manufacturing and food processing leads to reduced air quality which contributes to the global warming that increases severity of natural disasters and acidifies the ocean, leading to mass bleaching in coral reefs, which in turn tends to destroy oceanic ecosystems.