\n<\/p>\n
G<\/span>rowing up near Bolivia\u2019s Uyuni salt flats, Franz Al\u00ed Ramos remembers playing in the high-altitude wetlands near his home during the rainy season. \u201cIt was a beautiful recreation area for us and for animals,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Now, the wetlands have given way to cracked, sunbaked earth \u2013 a change that Al\u00ed Ramos blames on nearby operations by Bolivia\u2019s state lithium corporation, Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (YLB). The government has recently signed lithium mining contracts with two foreign companies \u2013 one Russian and the other Chinese \u2013 and residents fear more serious damage is yet to come.<\/p>\n \u201cOur communities are in a state of emergency,\u201d says Al\u00ed Ramos, who lives in R\u00edo Grande, a small town on the southern edge of the Uyuni salt flats 18 miles (30km) away from YLB\u2019s Llipi lithium plant.<\/p>\n <\/span>Franz Al\u00ed Ramos says the people of R\u00edo Grande, near the salt flats, feel powerless<\/span><\/p>\n Lithium industrialisation in Bolivia began in 2008, when the then president Evo Morales announced a plan to nationalise the country\u2019s reserves concentrated in the Uyuni salt flats.<\/p>\n It took until 2023 for the first plant to open, however, after claims of mismanagement by YLB and the 2019 political crisis \u2013 when Morales was forced to resign by the military over allegations of election fraud \u2013 brought delays.<\/p>\n Map of Uyuni salt flats in Bolivia<\/p>\n Since the plant\u2019s inauguration, output has fallen far short of targets: in 2024, it produced only 2,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate, far below its estimated annual capacity of 15,000 tonnes.<\/p>\n Frustrated by the slow progress, YLB signed contracts worth $2bn (\u00a31.49bn) with Russia\u2019s Uranium One Group and the Chinese consortium CBC last year.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve never had much water here. If it runs out, we\u2019ll have to migrate to the citiesIv\u00e1n Calcina<\/p>\n That meant a change in strategy to unlock the underexploited metal\u2019s potential using a new extraction technology that enables faster lithium processing than traditional methods, supposedly using less fresh water \u2013 although critics dispute this, noting it increases the amount of waste brine.<\/p>\n A US Geological Survey report this year estimated Bolivia\u2019s lithium reserves to be 23m tonnes, 20% of the global total. Advocates hope the metal \u2013 a crucial ingredient in electric-car batteries \u2013 can provide a path out of the country\u2019s worst economic crisis in decades.<\/p>\n The contracts have been approved by an economic commission of deputies but await signoff from the full legislature before they take effect.<\/p>\n <\/span>YLB says it will conduct environmental impact studies on the Uyuni salt flats \u2013 but only after mining contracts are approved<\/span><\/p>\n However, Bolivia is in the middle of a presidential election. In the first round of voting on 17 August, a conservative and a centre-right candidate emerged as frontrunners and will face each other again in a runoff in October. Protesters want MPs to delay ratifying the deal until after the new government takes office in November.<\/p>\n Their concerns go beyond the timing of the elections. YLB has been criticised for the opacity of the contracts and it failed to consult Indigenous communities or conduct an environmental impact study, as required under Bolivian and international law.<\/p>\n The company maintains that consent from communities near the mine is unnecessary because the salt flats fall under national jurisdiction.<\/p>\n But Gonzalo Mondaca, of the environmental organisation Cedib, argues that it is very much a local issue because the high desert ecosystem relies on fragile, nonrenewable aquifers and lithium mining is water-intensive, extracting from below ground 15 times what is naturally replenished by rain.<\/p>\n <\/span>A well installed by YLB. Locals say the wetlands where vicu\u00f1as grazed have dried up<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAny exploitation, even at the lowest level, could alter the system,\u201d he says, pointing to the International Labour Organization\u2019s Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, to which Bolivia is a signatory. \u201cIt does not just refer to territories, but to the possibility of being affected. That\u2019s why communities are demanding consultation.\u201d<\/p>\n Heavier water use would be felt acutely by the majority Quechua population in the Nor L\u00edpez Indigenous territory just south of the salt flats, says Iv\u00e1n Calcina, secretary general of the Provincial Central Union of Indigenous Communities of Nor L\u00edpez (Cupconl), which represents local Indigenous people.<\/p>\n Groundwater sustains llama herding and quinoa farming, which are essential to local livelihoods but could become unviable if lithium mining expands. \u201cWe\u2019ve never had much water here,\u201d Calcina says. \u201cIf it runs out, we\u2019ll have to migrate to the cities.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Iv\u00e1n Calcina at the base of Cerro Llipi. YLB has restricted access to the mountain, where local people perform rituals for rain<\/span><\/p>\n Many from his community of Culpina K have already moved to Chile in search of work. \u201cPrior consultation is important so that the state can tell us how we\u2019ll be affected, and what they\u2019ll provide in return,\u201d says Calcina.<\/p>\n Although it has rejected the need for community consultation, YLB has stated that it will conduct environmental impact studies \u2013 but only after the legislature approves the two contracts.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they say the project isn\u2019t viable, the money will already be there,\u201d Calcina says. \u201cIt\u2019s like putting on your shoes before your socks \u2013 it makes no sense.\u201d<\/p>\n S<\/span>o far, YLB\u2019s mining have been a relatively small-scale operation, but residents worry that existing problems will be intensified if the contracts are approved \u2013 and have little hope for the promised economic benefits. \u201cThere isn\u2019t even a law regulating lithium,\u201d Calcina points out.<\/p>\n Most residents of R\u00edo Grande work in agriculture or in nearby zinc and lead mines. \u201cWe were very hopeful when they announced the industrialisation project in 2008,\u201d recalls Donny Al\u00ed, a former president of the town\u2019s civic committee and a former general director of lithium at the energy ministry. \u201cThey made us believe we\u2019d become the Dubai of South America.\u201d<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Sign up to Global Dispatch<\/span><\/p>\n Get a different world view with a roundup of the best news, features and pictures, curated by our global development team<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.<\/span><\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n <\/span>Donny Al\u00ed says local people have seen none of the promised benefits of the mine<\/span><\/p>\n Since then, he says, the community has seen none of the promised benefits, with jobs going to workers from elsewhere: \u201cWe haven\u2019t seen a single cent.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet the downsides have been clear. Vicu\u00f1as \u2013 wild camelids whose wool fetches a better price than alpacas\u2019 fleece \u2013 are an essential source of income for local people who shear them. But after YLB installed more than 20 wells near the town, residents claim that the high-altitude wetlands where the animals congregated have dried up.<\/p>\n \u201cThe vicu\u00f1as have had to migrate to other areas where there aren\u2019t humans,\u201d Al\u00ed says, making them harder to corral. \u201cIt\u2019s a financial loss, and no one\u2019s making up for it.\u201d<\/p>\n If the new contracts are approved, he fears that increased industrial water use could worsen the problem. \u201cThere aren\u2019t any technical reports that guarantee we will continue to have water,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Al\u00ed Ramos, a member of R\u00edo Grande\u2019s civic committee, says the community feels powerless, adding: \u201cWe\u2019re the ones who will be affected.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Llama herding, which depends on groundwater supplies, could become unviable if lithium mining expands<\/span><\/p>\n Tourism has also suffered. Residents say YLB prohibits traffic across the salt flats near R\u00edo Grande, so anyone wanting to visit them has to make a 60-mile (100km) journey east to the main entrance near the town of Uyuni. The company has also reportedly restricted access to Cerro Llipi, a mountain where residents perform traditional rituals for rain.<\/p>\n \u201cWe fought to at least be able to access our mountain without permission, but they denied us that as well,\u201d says Al\u00ed Ramos.<\/p>\n Jos\u00e9 Valda Bel\u00e9n, a tour operator based in Uyuni, believes the same could happen to the tourism industry if the contracts are approved. \u201cThey might impose visiting restrictions,\u201d he says, fearing problems for one of Bolivia\u2019s top destinations.<\/p>\n God willing, the next government has the environment on its agendaAl\u00ed Ramos<\/p>\n Despite repeated requests for comment, YLB declined to respond directly, citing administrative reasons.<\/p>\n In October, the centre-right senator Rodrigo Paz Pereira, son of a former president, and the rightwing former president Jorge \u201cTuto\u201d Quiroga will face off in the presidential election, which will end nearly 20 years of leftwing governments. Both candidates say the \u201cwhite gold\u201d will revive Bolivia\u2019s struggling economy.<\/p>\n Quiroga has promised to manufacture batteries domestically, which the environmentalist Mondaca says is unfeasible due to Bolivia\u2019s distance from major markets and lack of other battery materials.<\/p>\n <\/span>Jos\u00e9 Valda Bel\u00e9n, who runs tours of the salt flats, pictured in Uyuni\u2019s \u2018train cemetery\u2019. He worries that restrictions could damage tourism<\/span><\/p>\n Paz Pereira has pledged to process magnesium byproducts as well as lithium carbonate to create more products for export. This proposal \u201cis more realistic\u201d, says Mondaca. \u201cBut the truth is that even if the work started in earnest today, there wouldn\u2019t be results for years.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, lithium prices have declined by 90% over the past two years, despite growing demand for the metal, due to oversupply by China.<\/p>\n In May, the local Indigenous organisation Cupconl filed a lawsuit, alleging that YLB had failed to consult the community, as required under the constitution but a judge dismissed the case on the grounds that a class-action suit was not appropriate. Calcina says the group plans to appeal against the decision and take the case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights if necessary.<\/p>\n On 20 August, a judge ordered a temporary pause in the contract approval process until YLB conducts an environmental impact study and obtains consent from the affected communities.<\/p>\n Opponents of the mines are now waiting to see what the new government will do, amid disillusion with the previous leftwing government. Mondaca notes that the Movement Towards Socialism (Mas) party, which was in power since 2006, talked about Indigenous rights but often failed to translate the rhetoric into action.<\/p>\n Though the results of the election\u2019s first round mark the end of Mas\u2019s grip on power, critics say that the rightwing parties\u2019 bet on lithium as an economic saviour for Bolivia\u2019s problems continues an extractive model that has caused environmental destruction and violated Indigenous rights since colonisation.<\/p>\n Al\u00ed Ramos in R\u00edo Grande is one of those who has lost faith in Mas. \u201cGod willing,\u201d he says, \u201cthe next government has the environment on its agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n