Bolivian communities push back against foreign-backed lithium projects

Bolivian communities push back against foreign-backed lithium projects

Dionicio Colque, 42, has fond memories of growing up on the edge of Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. It’s the world’s largest salt flat, spanning about 10,500 square kilometers (4,050 square miles). His family farmed potatoes on the outskirts of Colcha K, a community of around 1,000 residents in Nor Lípez province. But in around 2005, the freshwater spring that sustained their ranch ran dry, a loss Colque attributes to the effects of climate change an…