Declines Linked to Mining
Water levels in other areas of the desert have fluctuated due to climate shifts and drought. But the study looked at 30 years of data on flamingo populations and found that in other areas of the desert unaffected by lithium mining, flamingo populations have stayed relatively stable. Meanwhile, two of the three types of flamingos in the region of the Atacama where lithium mining is most concentrated saw their numbers decline by 10-12% over a recent 10-year period. During that same period, water levels in winter declined by around 40%.
