Lake Titicaca is the most important water resource on the Andean Plateau. But over the last two decades, its waters have been dropping. The driest period in almost half a century is making life near impossible for farmers.
#LakeTiticaca #SouthAmerica #SouthAmericaLake #SouthAmericaLakeDryingUp #LakeTiticacaDryingUp
~PR.152~HT.99~ED.101~
#LakeTiticaca #SouthAmerica #SouthAmericaLake #SouthAmericaLakeDryingUp #LakeTiticacaDryingUp
~PR.152~HT.99~ED.101~
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Lake Titicaca is drying up.
00:05 Drought and high temperatures mean water levels are approaching an all-time low.
00:12 That's affecting the indigenous communities in the area.
00:16 Pedro Quinta has farmed here for 60 years.
00:20 He's increasingly concerned about the lack of rain.
00:25 It's very serious.
00:27 The lake is shrinking in depth and width at the same time.
00:31 Years ago it always rained.
00:33 Now it doesn't rain anymore.
00:38 In recent years, the lake has been losing water at an alarming rate.
00:43 On the left side are images recorded by DW in 2022.
00:48 On the right, the same area a year later.
00:52 There's not a drop of water in sight.
00:59 In 2001, there was water up to the community over there, called La Calla.
01:04 The water had risen up to that point.
01:05 It was all covered by the lake.
01:08 Now there's no longer water.
01:09 It's already disappeared.
01:13 The drying lands have caused changes to the agricultural cycle.
01:20 We normally plant potatoes here, beans, barley, quinoa, everything that grows here.
01:27 But now we can't grow anything.
01:35 The animals are left to eat dry grass.
01:43 We can no longer live here with our animals.
01:46 We just cannot live here with the cattle anymore.
01:53 José Luis Montaño, from Bolivia's Institute of Hydraulics and Hydrology, says that climate
01:59 change is to blame.
02:05 The increase in temperature due to climate change is causing an increase in the evaporation
02:10 rate.
02:13 That means a greater amount of water is evaporating.
02:16 Therefore there is a reduction of the water surface on Lake Titicaca.
02:24 Many people here feel hopeless.
02:28 Some have already left.
02:34 We have sons and daughters, and most of them go to the capital, La Paz, or to another country.
02:41 You can't live here anymore.
02:42 There isn't even pasture.
02:45 Pedro Quinta feels abandoned.
02:50 Nobody helps us.
02:51 It would be great if the government did something, but they don't even come to see what happens
02:56 here.
02:58 Pedro wants an irrigation system.
03:01 But while he waits for the government, he prays for rain.