Extremalby
Menu
  • Business
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • Entertainment
    • Books
    • Celebrity
    • Music
    • TV
  • Sports
    • Golf
    • NCAAB
    • SOCCER
  • Technology
    • Artificial intelligence
    • Internet
    • Mobile
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Important Links
    • Cookie Policy US
    • DMCA
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
Menu
Exhausted: How We Can Stop Lithium Mining from Depleting Water Resources, Draining Wetlands, and Harming Communities in South America

Exhausted: How We Can Stop Lithium Mining from Depleting Water Resources, Draining Wetlands, and Harming Communities in South America

Posted on May 15, 2022 by mangakiko

To mitigate the worst impacts of climate change, we must transition away from fossil fuels like petroleum and coal and toward clean energy generation and zero-emission transportation options. However, many green technologies, such as electric vehicles and renewable power plants, depend on lithium-ion batteries, which require lithium.

Lithium resources are concentrated in locations that have long histories of destructive social and environmental impacts caused by the mining sector. In South America, large amounts of lithium are mined from the brine underneath arid basins in the Atacama Puna — a unique area spanning northern Chile, northwestern Argentina, and southwestern Bolivia. However, the brine evaporation technique used in this region contributes to the ecological damage of internationally recognized wetlands and protected areas, where water resources are already exhausted for local and Indigenous Peoples. Many of these communities have no say in — and receive little benefit from — the mining operations.

Lithium may play a key role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but a climate-friendly future cannot come at the expense of destroying this biodiverse region or violating Indigenous rights. In this report, done in collaboration with the Plurinational Observatory of Andean Salt Flats (OPSAL), we highlight the voices of people whose lives and livelihoods have been negatively impacted by the lithium industry. We also propose a variety of ways in which lithium extraction’s detrimental effects — water depletion, drained wetlands, and community harm — can be avoided.

Exhausted: How We Can Stop Lithium Mining from Depleting Water Resources, Draining Wetlands, and Harming Communities in South America — Report (PDF)

Exhausted: How We Can Stop Lithium Mining from Depleting Water Resources, Draining Wetlands, and Harming Communities in South America — Report, Spanish (PDF)

Originally published on NRDC. By Amanda Maxwell & James Blair, Co-authored with: Ramón M. Balcázar and Javiera Barandiarán

Feature photo: Uyuni Salt Flat, Boliviaby Samuel Scrimshaw on Unsplash


 


advertisement




Appreciate CleanTechnica’s originality? Consider becoming a CleanTechnica Member, Supporter, Technician, or Ambassador — or a patron on Patreon.


 

Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • More
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp

Related

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • Best Forex Trading Market Internationally
  • All Essential Tips About Forex Trading
  • How to Invest In Forex Trading in 2023
  • The importance of modern forex levels today 2022
  • What about forex trading and how to deal with it step by step?

Recent Comments

No comments to show.

Archives

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022

Categories

  • Artificial intelligence
  • Books
  • Business
  • Celebrity
  • Entertainment
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Environment
  • forex
  • Golf
  • Internet
  • Mobile
  • Music
  • NCAAB
  • Personal Finance
  • Physics
  • SOCCER
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • TV
©2023 Extremalby | WordPress Theme by Superbthemes.com