open your eyes to the new global 3000 series. about the threats we are facing. the heroes taking a stand to know to make up that unseen global $3000.00 theories starts june 21st on d w. oh there's a new gold rush in the andes mountains. mining companies are trying to tap into huge reserves of lithium, known as white gold agenda argentine and wants to attract $5000000000.00 in investment, not only for lithium mining, but also for electro mobility programs. i said, i'm really, alex,

germany is moving ahead with this technology as well, and we'll need a lot of lithium to power those electric cars had 1000 people here was the pursuit of white gold can also have serious political consequences with lithium brought down bolivian government, religion again, but can the lithium be extracted without damaging the local environment? some experts are skeptical and question the need for large scale mining projects. we're not familiar with and as a family in europe really need to eat cars and it's re computer how will the mining of lithium affect the local residence and what impact will it have on the region sensitive ecosystem but with the weapon and it's

not about a share of the process keys, look a little more, it's about our future and the future of our children with this the this is the large, a large a uni cells flat near the crest of the andes. in southwestern bolivia, beneath it's crossed lines, the world single largest deposit of lithium. mm. no one is the mayor of the nearby community of rio grande. while our supports lithium mining, because he believes that it will generate profits for everyone. necessity, dallas k, all of the communities near the salt lake and all of bolivia will benefit from the

extraction of lithium. here you get the will probably be beneficial. about 2000 people live in rio grande. the local economy is doing well thanks to income from the extraction of sodium, boar 8, or borax wireless books that its lithium mining operations expand. as planned. there will be even more money for the local residence. there are huge deposits under the crust of the salt plan. a pilot planned for extracting the white gold has already been built for libby as government wants to benefit from the increased demand for lithium. as more and more western countries developed electric vehicles, bolivian officials want to do more than simply export lithium. they also plan to develop processing plants and battery production facilities,

which will create lots of new jobs that they've had in here. centuries ago, bolivian silver was simply sent to europe. now we want to use this natural resource to improve our lives. in 2018 able morales bolivia as president at the time, agreed to a joint venture with the german company systems all the money. as promised to help a bolivian state company extract the lithium, it would also build a processing plant and a factory for making lithium batteries. it seems to be a win win situation for both sides. a, c, i a s predicted a bright future event towers and elected when we will create a 1000 jobs directly and 10000 indirect jobs before including those with the production so, so in, but even the german auto industry will need huge supplies of lithium as it makes

the transition to battery powered vehicles. so will car makers in other western countries. and that's good news for bolivia, argentina, and she likes which have huge reserves of white gold. now your wireless supports the agreement in principle, but only if it benefits the local residence. the message you must get thing that's probably a lot of my people, the people are entitled to a share of the profit because lithium extraction will have a huge impact on the people of rio grande, a company, others. you run the risk, but there's more at stake here than just financial compensation. local leaders also demand that they have a say in the development of these projects because it seems that our logistics co operative can help in the extraction of lithium when i'm there.

and we have the equipment that will be needed for this project that are support including truck, bent regardless of the market in 2019 president rubbish, put the joint venture on hold in the wake of public protests in rio grande, a dozen civil trucks were purchased in anticipation of coming industrialization, almost as perceived. i mean, we use these trucks to take the bases where wrong, lithium will be stored in the best, i mean, but right now, they're just standing around why production to come in. there's hardly any opposition here to the joint venture. most local residents think the germans are the right partners for the project, including local politicians. theodore or the opposition comes from other parts of bolivia where a lot of people think it's a bad idea. look at the neck. well,

as i remember, the germans can still save the project. but a lot of people were upset about the terms of the agreement movement. i mean one of the, i think the germans should take part in the me. but in other places, some citizens, committees are opposed, and they've got people riled up this in 2019, there were widespread demonstrations against the proposed joint venture. and then october people took to the streets to protest alleged fraud in the recent general election. during this chaos ramos cancel the agreement with germany. in early november, international observers did find widespread evidence of fraud on november 10th rally resigned as president and left the country since then, lithium mining in bolivia has been suspended. even those who live near the salt

flats now have their doubts about the joint venture agreement. one of them is luis much aka a member of the citizens committee. as well as if we're looking at the germans wanting to extract our lithium with a 70 year contract, things like that. and they wanted to be a good partner and didn't have the financial resources, the more the technology for what they heard. here in bolivia, lithium lining has become a serious political issue. it's still not clear whether a foreign company will be brought in to get the extraction project moving again. in any case, lithium mining can to huge amounts of water. they are, wireless is worried that the local wells may dry up. there's a boost, kill them at the we need to find alternative ways to provide water for lithium production. so if they just tap into our reservoir,

meant that will ruin our children's future, compromise them the for them associate the mayerson, the environmental concerns like this are important as bolivia decides which foreign company will take part in the project. that will you nissan, last full. the world's largest reserve of lithium, which will be used in the batteries of the new generation of electric vehicles. large deposits of lithium are also found in the neighboring countries of lake and orchard tina. this is the so called lithium trying, which is home to nearly 60 percent of the world's supply of white gold. the much of the world's lithium is found in bryan reservoirs that lie just below the surface of the desert areas of the andes region

. these include chillies, other come a desert. this area is considered the world's strongest with an average annual rainfall of just 15 millimeters. the sun plants are all that's left of sailing lakes, but developed millions of years ago. the surface water is scarce here, and it is vital for the survival of wildlife. like these slumming goes, the julian company, s q m, has been mining lithium for 25 years at a facility on the outta commerce. old flood. s q him is the world's number 2, producer of lithium workers, pump brine to the surface from a depth of 40 meters. the broad been placed in patience where the liquid evaporates over several months, leaving behind lithium slag. this process uses

a lot of water pipelines run across the desert floor to supply mining facilities. when the water comes from wells that tap into the ground water button, a local resident, christiane to rocco is opposed to mining operations here because they're depleting the reservoirs on it. then one letter one day. this mining operation has been set up on land for that belongs to the indigenous peoples case. now you've got the damage. ok, and the company is using up our underground water supply. the whole 15 2nd though all alone and i to rock says that some rivers in this region are running love, others have dried up altogether. he blamed this situation on climate change and on water intensive mining operations with me

that lives in the village of tucker, now located on the edge of the flat. about 700 people live here. christiane works as a surveyor and also farms. a small plot of land like his father and grandfather did . christian's father says that large scale, lithium mining is mostly responsible for the drop in the local water supply. what should i can't does if, whether a lot of people have moved away because there's not enough water. well, what are you doing? if you don't have water, you can't grow crop. so a lot of people, let me. oh, this situation has been confirmed by christina dora door, a biologist who has studied the environmental impact of mining operations that i saw in my dallas satellite images taken over the last 20 years,

indicate that the soil has lost moisture vehicle. the ground temperature is rising and there's been a decrease in the amount of vegetation. these changes are the direct result of the expansion of lithia mining young, the somewhat of the little o. this is a serious threat to the areas fragile ecosystem. it affects the micro organisms in the lagoons and the flamingoes that consume them. okay, so this is an example of what we call climate change as well as more water and brian is pumped out of the ground, the water level in the middle star. this raises the water temperature, which leads to evaporation and it gets up on the bottom line is that is accelerates the loss of water from the salt lake. that's our boat. we weren't allowed to film at the s q in mind because of coven restrictions. but company vice president pablo

alchemy says that the company has reduced water consumption in recent years and will continue to do so sort of the name on the demo. we monitor water extraction and more than 250 locations in here. we also monitor the water level of the goods and we make all of this data public. you think it was a fully thought, christiane. her uncle has doubts about the company's operations. is a women april last year that were the other thing was in so far the s q m has not bothered to take the concerns of the local residents. and seriously though, susan and we're upset about that, and that will be a good they take the lithium out of the ground, get and then sell it. and europe as a clean product. i mean, you and i would open the system, but as far as i'm concerned in italy, that's a lie the fuel. and there, when i mean some of the,

the boom in lithium production will likely create even more water shortages. and that's a serious cause for concern. but when you know, people who live near the salt lake have filed several lawsuit against the mining companies, claiming that they used more water than was allowed to fix damage. the fuel is the only country in the world where the water supply is owned by private company. if things continue like this, the salt lake will dry up in 10 to 20 years before needed in a select. c, s q m says it does use environmentally friendly technology, so they never get it. but i will proceed illegally say, our company needs to expand to produce more lithia, but that production has to be sustainable, but the concept of electrical mobility is based on sustainability that the noble of

them. so we are committed to using production methods that are sustainable because some of the i a few kilometers away across the border in argentina and increase in lithium mining could also create water shortages ah. for years, the local indigenous people have made their living by mining salt and they don't need a lot of water to do it. for the rest, you're in the ocean and we extract the salt in a sustainable way. it's a resource that renews itself. dina's hours salt lake are one of arch in tina's 7 wonders. duty come in. they attract a lot of tourists, including foreigners, national, not uploading,

but tourism is down because of the pandemic. a few visitors are here today posing for pictures in front of a striking natural landscape. but they can't fail to notice the protest signs put up by opponents of lithium mining. us in the lithium itself is not the problem. like i said, it's whether the water becomes contaminated or if they can deal with that. i think argentine should produce lithium in a sustainable way. you know, i mean most of those who make their living from tourism and mining salt, believe that lithium production poses a real threat. i don't want them to let them lead to. it'll scare away all of the tour. you know, they need to be one of the leaders of the local anti lithium protests. is clemente

flores, like many people in chile, he's concerned that the water supply may be running low. lemme, and most of the day for me, me and the key is how much water the companies will use. mean they say one thing on their website, but that's usually less than the amount that they actually use. the flores points out that lithium extraction is just getting started in this region, but a chinese company is already building a new production plant in they've built the drawing basin, so all they have to do now is fill them over there. and you can see the pipes for the water that they pump up from below the surface. that water will evaporate during the production process. when they add line to remove impurities from the

lithium, brian. and that's bad for the environment. well, not really. what i mean to me this lithium plant is owned by an australian japanese company. nearly 40 similar projects are in the planning stages. argentine as government says, it will expand lithium production in the coming years. there will probably not be any controls just like in chile lucas. these are the man numbers in the us. we filed complaints and have held demonstrations to try to slow the expansion plus any of that. i mean, the government has already issued permits for several projects, but no one is giving us any specific stuff that goes in or national agreement state that we have to be consulted in advance and re, cert was for years the indigenous people of who, who a province have been trying to stop the government from issuing lithium production licenses to foreign corporations. but the authorities are planning projects with

companies from japan, china and canada. supporters say environmental damage will be kept to a minimum, me and him. in going down to us, numerous scientific studies have shown that lithium mining does not threaten the water supplies of small farmers. the salt lake has its own water system come in. when we pump right there. it does not affect the fresh water reservoirs of the farming communities equal to the argentine as government hopes that lithium production will help boost the countries ailing economy. that reproduction facilities are already on the drawing board. and argentine plans to build more electric vehicles for the domestic market. we are convinced that expanding lithium production will help us to successfully

deal with the challenges of the future. in china and europe. 20 percent of all vehicles are electric. argentina is way behind and c, m, w is already a player in our containers, lithium market. the company predicts that 50 percent of all the cars it builds in 2030 will be electric. so they'll need a lot of lithium and have invested millions in argentina. b m w says it will make sure that the lithium is mine responsibly. but even for find out in kind reasons, maybe like a failure process that we use just not introduce any solvent for chemicals into the environment. within the most of the brian that we extract is returned to its source, i think not to the of the part of this reduces water consumption substantially compared to other item ions up and as a pre production is planned to start in 2022. but local residents,

and many scientists doubt whether lithium can be mined in such an environmentally friendly way. committee goes a lot of a lot of engineers believe that a salt lake is like a swimming pool. if you simply pump out the brine filter out the lithium and then pump the liquid back to the source. but this ecosystem has a fragile biological and chemical balance, and mining can ruin it. for less, of course i how will the lithium production affect the local environment? one person who's quite concerned about the situation is 11 year old malagra chavez . she's been compared to swedish activist, greater tune back into what we need to defend our salt lake for lithium mine, and i'm worried about how it will effect so production and water supplies,

plants and animals and you know, invalid government or children have to get involved in conservation, otherwise, our protests will achieve nothing that in this region will soon belong to them, gave me so far. florence and his neighbors have been fighting a losing battle. a number of big companies will soon start mining lithium here. but the protests will continue. flores has 7 children and 7 grandchildren. over the next 50 years, they may decide to leave the country. many lands already have. flores often discusses this problem with his mother. and the earth is like a mother to. i know that we have to respect her and protect her that . ready she gives us life and she also protects us,

that 4 generations of the florida family lives under one roof. they raise mommas and we've textiles from the womb. ah flores complains that traditional life and the region is disappearing. many of the local young people have gone off to work for the mining companies and those jobs pay will we return to bolivia. the government says it plans to produce 40 percent of the global demand for lithium by 2030. and that's a pretty ambitious goal. but to do that, they'll need foreign partners. the final decision will be up to the ministers in the bolivian capital, a pass economist county romero helped to

negotiate the original deal with german company sci systems. so i'll leave you a little bit of money but i quite bolivia must regain investors. tragedy after the government cancel the a c i contract, i believe, you know, in 3, but some companies have benefited from that situation. was compet and now they don't want the germans to get back to the game. you know, putting this, telling us the competitors include chinese and us corporations. ah, tesla founder, ellen musk is also said to be interested in tapping into bolivia and reserves driving the government has not yet made a final decision. after months of political chaos, philippians elected a new president in october 2020 luis ourself is a former economics minister and was the preferred candidate of next president abel

morales. the bonus, i will that our government will represent the interests of all bolivians, and we will restore unity in our country. are so approved, especially popular among indigenous voters. now he will have to decide whether to negotiate a new lithium deal with a c, a s, or find another international partner or whatever. we must do everything we can to use the latest technology and move forward quickly with lithium reduction process into the previous contract with germany would not have brought us the rapid industrial progress that we see. experts say a new deal. we'll have to clearly define the rules of the participants and specify

the distribution of royalties and profits into a fundamental changes in the looking production model are on the horizon. for example, the producers could be ordered to do more to protect the environment the broad based group of july and citizens is now drafting a new constitution. in the wake of massive protests that began in 2019 biologist, christina, door to door was among those elected to draft the new constitution elementary principality. i demand that the salt lake be preserved over the long term. if we continue to pursue short term economical that will destroy them again, though the lithium boom may bring prosperity to the andes region. what, at what price?

well, if we were to destroy our salt lake because of lithium production, and we'd certainly live to regret it. but still many feel left out. i didn't need lithium. i want to go on living like i do, you know what effect will the push toward electro mobility have on south america, the price and my name. i don't day in germany. electro mobility represents the development of clean vehicle technology to an end to the use of fossil fuels posting seen in, but it doesn't, but this transition cannot be made at the expense of fragile system. it goes like our salt fanatic. and let me say to me,

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w world heritage 360. now the me, the news news, this is d w. news live from berlin. a landmark true says joe biden, towards europe to repair relations and it's all about train the european union and the u. s. r on the cusp of a deal that could resolve a 17 year long aircraft subsidy dispute, lifting the threat of billions in punitive terrorist. also coming off feller bruce

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