Salar de Atacama Lithium Mining Threatens Desert
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- Salar de Atacama supplies roughly 20% of the world’s lithium, a key input for EV batteries.
- EV sales accounted for over one‑in‑five new car purchases globally in 2025, driving lithium demand.
- Thea Riofrancos visited the Atacama to document how mining coexists with flamingos, challenging the myth of an “empty” desert.
- Living on Earth notes that lithium extraction has polluted the desert’s land, water, and air, threatening local ecosystems and communities.
Why it matters: EV manufacturers and battery makers gain from the 20% share of lithium, while local Chilean communities and ecosystems lose, facing polluted land, water, and air; the extraction threatens the desert's fragile biodiversity, potentially undermining sustainable energy goals.
