Bolivia has been in the midst of a major water crisis for more than a year now. Residents of the city of La Paz are under strict rationing rules. Glaciers are melting at an alarming pace. What was once the country’s second-largest lake has dried up. But some would argue that a major factor behind the crisis is an economic model that prioritizes the needs of resource-thirsty industries over those of ordinary citizens.
Mining operations are guzzling away at rivers and now the government has plans to construct so-called ‘mega-dams’ in the Amazon region to generate hydroelectric power for export. Indigenous communities in the dams’ paths are teaming up with environmentalists and civil society organizations to stop the projects in their tracks. Aldo Orellana López has more.