In images that hauntingly echo the well documented drying up of the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan/Uzbekistan, Lake Poopó,…
In images that hauntingly echo the well documented drying up of the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan/Uzbekistan, Lake Poopó, Bolivia’s second largest lake, has been officially declared as having ‘evaporated’.
With similar causes and impacts to the Aral Sea case- water diverted for agriculture and mining, exacerbated by drought linked to climate change, leading to the degradation of already fragile natural ecosystems and wildlife, undermining the lifestyles of local people dependent on the lake, and leading to the displacement of these populations.
We cannot afford to ignore these cases- such as the Aral Sea and now Lake Poopó- that clearly demonstrate the causal links between mismanagement of local environments, and significant social and economic consequences. We must change behaviour and redesign infrastructure so that we work with nature, not against it.
Images- via the Guardian and the Independent:
Top: Satellite images showing the extent to which Lake Poopó has receded in just 3 years between April 2013 and January 2016.
Middle: Fishing boats abandoned from the shore of the dried up lake- (particularly reminiscent of images taken several years previously at the Aral Sea).
Bottom: Tyre tracks and the carcass of a bird on the now parched ground of the lake bed.
No end in sight.
